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L. S. DUNAWAY, 

The Author. 




JEFF DAVIS. 

Governor and United States Senator 



JEFF DAVIS 

Governor and United States Senator 



HIS LIFE AND SPEECHES 



With Personal Reminiscences 

by 
L. S. DuNAWAY 



Introduction by 
JUDGE J. V. BOURLAND 



'My Friends Are Always Right to Me." 

—JEFF DAVIS 



Little Rock 

DEMOCRAT PRINT. & LITHO. CO. 

1913 



Copyrighted 1913 

By L. S. Dunaway 

Little Rock, Ark. 






©CI,A358361 



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CONTENTS 

Page 
INTRODUCTORY 5 

CHAPTER ONE 11 

Reminiscences of a Newspaper Man. 

CHAPTER TWO 23 

Senator Davis's Death and Funeral. 

CHAPTER THREE _ 31 

Some of the Sayings of Jeff Davis. 

CHAPTER FOUR 46 

Jeff Davis's First Speech in Race for Governor. 

CHAPTER FIVE 71 

Governor Davis's Speech at Eureka Springs. 

CHAPTER SIX 81 

Governor Davis's Speech at Bentonville. 

CHAPTER SEVEN 101 

Senator Davis's Celebrated Cobweb Speech. 

CHAPTER EIGHT 122 

Senator Davis's Keynote Speech at Ozark. 

CHAPTER NINE 136 

Anti-Trust Speech in the United States Senate. 

CHAPTER TEN 179 

To Suppress Dealing in Futures. 

CHAPTER ELEVEN 208 

Arkansas Gazette's Review of Jeff Davis's Career. 

CHAPTER TWELVE 227 

Memorial Addresses in the United States Senate. 

APPENDIX 251 

Davis's Anti-Trust Bill. 



INTRODUCTORY 



OLDER myself by some six years, my acquaintance 
with Jeff Davis rmis back to about the year 1877 or 
1878, speaking from memory. He was an applicant 
for a scholarship to West Point, and was attending an exami- 
nation being held at Ozark, my native town. Amongst other 
applicants was DeRosey Cabell, now stationed at Wash- 
ington, an officer in the regular army. Young Davis missed 
the goal, his only defeat, until death, January 2, 1913. It 
seems that his rival outranked him in the matter of orthogra- 
phy, whatever value orthography may be to a soldier. One 
of the words which j^oung Davis missed was ''separate." He 
spelled it "seperate." There were some others, but I do 
not recall them. In a talk wdth Senator Davis during Christ- 
mas week last, he recalled the event, as we stood near the 
spot where the examination was conducted. 

After going over the circumstances in connection with his 
subsequent career, I ventured to remark that General Jack- 
son is reported to have observed mth some emphasis when 
his orthography was once under examination, ''I would not 

give a d for a man who can not spell more than one way." 

Bat if my observation gave Senator Davis any comfort he 
did not manifest it. 

As we strolled along, finding our way leading along a ledge 
of rock in the outskirts of the town, indicating his wish to sit, 
he turned thoughtfully to me and said: 

''Judge, what if I had been promoted to West Point?" 

Jocularly I rejoined, seeing the reminiscence of his mood, 
''God always takes care of — " 

"A fool," said he. 

"Yes," said I, "but you must allow me to remind you that 
it requires great wisdom to connote the fact." Senator Davis 
always numbered DeRosey Cabell as among his friends; 
and during the late campaigns of our army in the Philippines 
Colonel Cabell expressed to Senator Davis one of their 
native hats, a picturesque head-piece, with his compliments. 

From the period above indicated, Jeff Davis and myself 
were fast friends. 

I do not know the years in which he attended the Arkansas 
State University, nor the time of his attendance upon the 
law department of Vanderbilt University at Nashville. He 
and his friend, Thomas A. Pettigrew, now a prominent law- 



6 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

yer at Charleston, Ark., went out in company, the former to 
Vanderbilt and the latter to Cumberland, at Lebanon. Out 
of Memphis they took a train which carried them some miles 
in a wrong direction, when a good-natured conductor allowed 
them to disembark. They walked, counting ties and carry- 
ing hand-bags, back to the Memphis depot. I have heard 
both of the gentlemen laugh and cajole each other about the 
incident, but they could not definitely locate the blame. Sena- 
tor Davis \4ewed the experience as valuable, noting the fact 
that he had since that time counted ties more than once. 
Really, he was an expert, as I myself happen to know; for, 
whenever in his political campaigns it became imperative, he 
did not hesitate to harness a hand-car, with all hands, to make 
an appointment, or to walk the track, if that was the only 
alternative. He did not miss an engagement, political or 
otherwise. 

He was licensed to practice law at the age of nineteen, his 
''disabilities being removed," as was the practice at that 
early time. His home town, Russellville, being then in the 
same circuit, the old Fifth, with Ozark, his father. Judge L. 
W. Davis, then prominent at the bar, escorted the son to 
Ozark, where the court was in session. Judge Davis, a big, 
noble, jolly, gentle, generous man, loved young men; and for 
some years had paternally hovered the writer, then a young 
and briefless attorney, as doth a hen her brood ; and that love 
was returned. 

Judge Davis and the son did the writer the honor to asso- 
ciate him mth Judge William W. Mansfield, to draw the peti- 
tion and conduct the examination. My recollection is that 
Jeff Davis passed a creditable examination. Pie was a good 
lawyer from the start; not of the purely literary sort, but 
born such; while he knew the text far better than many who 
rank as "best at the bar." After the examination, the report 
made and the order admitting the son, Judge Davis showed 
his just pride. The boy was a little demure, due somewhat, 
I think, to mixed excitement and dignity, in his new honors. 
Judge Davis invited the bar, including the presiding judge, 
and some lay friends, and we drank lemonade with him. 

Judge Davis kept all hands convulsed. Judge Mansfield, 
though of somewhat serious turn, had a fund of real humor. 
Both of these distinguished gentlemen had much fun at Jeff's 
expense; yet he held his own with them fairly well, consider- 
ing. I remember Judge Mansfield, with mock seriousness, 
asked Judge Davis what would "now be the style of the 
firm?" and Judge Davis's reply, soto voce, "JEFF DAVTS 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 7 

& FATHER. ' ' While the lemonade was being served, Judge 
Davis did not seem to know the use of the straw, then com- 
ing into use, for sipping the liquid. He asked Jeff to explain 
it, and, as the latter got near his father, showing the use of 
the straw, the father innocently blew a lot of the contents into 
his face and over his only shirt front, and then there was 
much laughter at Jeff's expense. 

The upshot of it was finally, however, Jeff turned the tables. 
For an hour later he bloomed out with one of his father's 
shirts, the only one in his hand-bag, and much too large for 
Jeff; but all hands agreed that the joke was on the kindly 
judge. 

Jeff Davis entered at once upon a lucrative practice at 
Russellville, in partnership with his father; latterly, with 
Judge J. G. Wallace, a third member. Elected Prosecuting 
Attorney, twice in succession, Jeff Davis became a terror to 
evil-doers. Always full of human sympathy for the erring, 
still he went with shovel and tongs when duty demanded; 
particularly was he severe when moral turpitude was flagrant ; 
he was unrelenting in prosecutions for violations of liquor 
and arms-carrying laws. 

I shall not attempt to review his career in detail; it is too 
well known; besides, the work of the author, Mr. Dunaway, 
will prove far more accurate and interesting, that being his 
especial gift ; I speak in a general way, from present memory. 

His political career, proper, opened with his election to 
the office of Attorney General. During that period, the writer 
was in his company much. Part of the time he maintained 
sleeping apartments in his office, his family being still at 
Russellville. Jeff Davis gave his best efforts to the duties 
of that office; and it was in their fearless discharge, indeed, 
that unwittingly he laid the foundation of his sui)sequent 
political promotion. I shall not review these events. His 
fearless stand in favor of a practical application of the good 
old Democratic doctrine of "equal rights to all and special 
privileges to none," aroused the ire of a large section of 
so-called '* business," now familiarly denounced as ''preda- 
tory interests." Taking just umbrage at the unfriendly atti- 
tude of other officers and persons, in apparent sympathy with 
these interests, Davis launched a gubernatorial campaign 
which has not been equaled in political annals ; unless, indeed, 
by one of his subsequent campaigns. Things grew rancorous 
from the start. The air was speedily surcharged with all 
manner of invective against him. He carried every county 
of the seventy-five, save one ; and in many of the counties his 



8 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

majority was substantially unanimous. I shall not advert to 
the several campaigns in detail. They were hot, to the boil- 
ing point. Probably no useful purpose would be subserved 
in reviewing them now. The writer, too, in a small way an 
integral unit of this great movement for reform, is probably 
not the proper person to undertake its analysis. That Jeft' 
Davis was so signally victorious, sufficiently vindicates him 
from the aspersions of those times. No man before him ever 
ran for two offices, as did he, for Governor and for United 
States Senator, at the same time, against powerful if not acri- 
monious opposition, and gain his goal in both. 

Contrary to a reputation which his political enemies sought 
to thrust upon him, Jeff Davis was Jacksonian in rugged 
patriotism. His political career was largely shaped by a 
natural passion for equality and exact justice. He stood for 
right ; believed in government by the people, not by a favored 
class. And when his official duties made him acquainted with 
the injustice of special privilege which had honeycombed our 
social fabric, he set about rectification; and it was this which 
brought on and kept glowing the white heat of his political 
course. Not that he loved a row for its own sake; but once 
in the arena, buckling abreast his bull-hide shield, he smote 
the enemy hip and thigh; nor did he cry at any time 
''enough!" Upon the contrary, far and wide he strew the 
State with political carnage, working night and day, with 
all the precipitation of a gatling gun. Whoever now would 
know the rectitude and wisdom of his political propaganda, 
let him give himself to the study of our political history; 
there he will find that every measure brought forward by 
Jeff Davis has been justified by time and verified by current 
history. 

That he was a most tactful man need not be chronicled. 
True tact, however, implies sincerity of purpose, combined 
with a just estimate of mankind. His political opponents 
sought to break the force of this power by metamorphosing it 
into "demagogy," in its most distasteful sense; and they 
hurled such poisoned darts at him as from a catapult, but all 
such fell harmless at his feet. 

Whatever he did was misconstrued by his enemies. Once, 
I remember, we were riding over some mountain country in 
one of his State campaigns, the last for the gubernatorial 
office; it was late and the ground, covered with the slush of 
recent snows, was freezing. Rushing our driver to meet an 
appointment, suddenly our horses shied; Governor Davis 
looked and saw on the side of the road two objects ; no sooner 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 9 

did he realize that they were children, than out of the buggy 
he sprang. The children had become stranded in an effort to 
reach a settlement over the ridge, some three miles away. 
Governor Davis huddled them into the buggy, wrapped his 
lap robe around them, learned their destination and we 
whipped on; setting them down finally at the gate of the farm 
house, the destination of the little ones, on we went, his iden- 
tity being wholly unknown. Yet the facts were obviously 
gathered up by people thereabouts and the incident enabled 
him to sweep the county. Plis enemies characterized it as 
^ ' demagogy. ' ' 

I shall not attempt to illustrate his love of children, nor 
his commiseration of people in distress, as shown by his fre- 
quent use of clemency while Grovernor. Here again was he 
bitterly assailed. Once, while speaking in a town before 
thousands of people, his pardon record was a theme. A 
prominent newspaper editor stood conspicuously, and a little 
defiantly, near and in front of the speaker. This editor had 
flayed Governor Davis in that day's issue of his paper for 
''pardoning whiskey men," referring to a notable case in 
that county. Quick as a flash, Governor Davis took notice of 
the paper, singled out the conspicuous editor and accused 
him of having signed the petition for pardon of the particu- 
lar man; the editor, forgetting, denied; when Governor Davis 
unrolled about thirty yards of white paper and threw it into 

the howling mass of people, saying, "Colonel 's name 

will be found first on the list!" There indeed it was. The 
effect was electrical. Governor Davis swept that county. 

Jeff Davis was a true friend. If it was said he was not 
true in this relation, you have but to bring forward your 
instance to be convincingly shown that some latent circum- 
stance had convinced Jeff Davis, in some way, that the per- 
son was unworthy of his esteem and confidence ; a friend for 
favor, rather than for nobler things. Throughout his career 
he never for a moment forsook a friend; never. Contrary- 
wise, nothing in his power was too good for them at whatever 
sacrifice to himself. Illustrative instances might be accumu- 
lated to make a volume, and the writer would wish this were 
the occasion to refute many sinister stories which had their 
birth in cesspools of partisanship; not for his defense, 
for he needs none, but for history's sake. During his life 
these malign vaporings he regarded as the idle \rinds; and 
events have sufficiently refuted them with all candid minds. 
Upon some future occasion the writer may indulge his own 



10 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

friendly caprices in tins regard to sink these obscure tra- 
ducers still further into the density of well-merited obscurity. 

That Jeff Davis was an ideal husband and father was pro- 
verbial. Here, again, my knowledge is first hand; for neither 
he nor any one of the family allowed me to take lodgings, out 
of their hospitality, when practical. He was the most gener- 
ous man I ever knew. Without the love of money himself, 
he used it for the happiness of others. His children and his 
wife run things; Jeff was one of them; a boy at home; all 
had what he had, money and all, ivhen they wanted it, and 
as 7nuch as they vAshed, if he had it. This does not mean, 
however, that there was wastefulness or undue extravagance, 
for he was poor ; and they were a sensible family, considerate 
and prudent, out of love for him and for the common good. 

The writer upon a recent occasion remonstrated in a broth- 
erly sort of way A\dth Senator Da\'is, saying to him, "You 
are too unsystematic about your household and family ex- 
penditures; your generosity not only teaches your children 
possible indifference to economy, but unabridged freedom in 
money matters, amongst so many, must ultimately exhaust 
the supply." 

"Yes," he said, "you are doubtless right; I mj^self have 
thought of it; in case of death, my family will be poorly 
equipped to meet the world ; I ^vill have some estate, I trust ; 
but this thing of limiting my family, a thing I have never 
done; how — I do not know how to be,gin — and so, I guess, it 
is too late now. I live for them. " He did — for them and his 
friends and for his country. 

His aspirations to serve his people in the United States 
Senate the writer knew to the minutest detail. It was his 
hope to get back there to join hands ^\T.th the new Democratic 
administration. That he would have given great weight to 
the Democratic side is well understood, nation-wide. I shall 
not review these matters now. His death is irreparable. 
The fruits of his labors in Arkansas will flourish here for 
many years. He fixed definite lines of political conduct for 
the public good, and none mil now dare to traverse them. 
His public life in this State will prove a lasting blessing to 
the great mass of people; particularly to the laboring and 
industrial citizen. I forbear. God, in His tender love, keep 
our departed companion and devoted friend. 

J. V. BOURLAND. 

Fort Smith, Ark., April 21, 1913. 



CHAPTER I 

REMINISCENCES OF A NEWSPAPER MAN. 

I. 

An Arkansas Traveler. 

If you would have more fun than you ever had at a circus, 
get into the newspaper game. You will hear political 
speeches one day, attend a hanging the next, a Methodist 
Conference, then a Baptist Convention, and the old-fashioned 
reunions and barbecues. 

There is nothing more enjoyable than to attend the old- 
fashioned reunions and home-comings, hear the farmers dis- 
cuss pontics, talk about the tariff and discuss the poHtical 
events of the day. Around the country fairs is where you 
will meet Grandmother with her homespun dress and Grand- 
father smoking his pipe of clay. 

After travehng more than fifteen years, I have been in 
everything except shooting scrapes. I have taken in every- 
thing on subscription to the Daily Gazette from an old quilt 
to a swarm of bees. If I do not succeed in collecting the 
money my rule is to take in chitterUngs, cheese, wool socks, 
sawdust or buttermilk. 

I have had some very funny experiences in collecting old 
newspaper accounts. In fact, they are much harder to collect 
than a board bill, a doctor's bill, or subscriptions to the 
church. 

At one time I took nine steeltraps and three coon hides, 
and receipted the subscriber in full. This account was so old 
that it had whiskers on it. 

In good old Greene County I relieved an old fellow of a 
large beef hide, receipting him in full, and my commission 
was twenty-five cents on the dollar. 

At another place I accepted two cords of cook wood three 
miles from the railroad and an order on one of the home mer- 
chants for my pay, less 15 per cent commission. 

Over at Clinton, in good old Van Buren County, I accepted 
$15 in county scrip on a claim that was out of date, marked 
the grand juror up for another year, gave him some popcorn, 
and he is still a reader of the Twice-a-Week Gazette. 

On the banks of the Arkansas River, near Morrilton, I took 
half a dozen large cotton baskets, receipted the delinquent 



12 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



subscriber in full, left him in a good humor with his six 
months ' paid-up subscription on the Weekly. 

It is amusing to be around the Gazette office at times when 
two factions want to be heard; one fellow will beg that the 
manuscript and the truth be left out, and the other faction 
will want to pay for space on the front page. One fellow 
will brag about the news service and the editorial poHcy of 
the paper, and the next fellow you meet mil criticise the same 
articles that suited the other subscriber. 

One time while at Dermott waiting for a late train, a small 
country woman with two children and two or three grips was 
loaded on the train for Little Rock. One of them was her 
large ''sifter," with a small rope tied in the middle. After 
the train had left McGehee some drunk fellow got on the 
train, and as he walked through tore the grip loose with his 
heavy boot and three or four small puppies come out of the 
old grip, and began yelping and barking on the train. The 
conductor and the negro porter and myself gave those pups a 
merry chase all through the car, and some of the passengers 
thought that train robbers were aboard. The poor woman, 
with a long tooth brush in her mouth, said, ''There goes them 
pups. I told John I didn't believe I could ever get to Mis- 
souri with them pups and that 'sifter.' " The pups were 
properly cared for and the woman went rejoicing on to Mis- 
souri, and each of the children had one of my cards. As a 
result of my kindness, tliis Arkan sawyer, who is now in Mis- 
souri, is a reader of the Weekly Gazette on account of my 
catching the pups. 

One of the funny incidents I recall took place near Searcy, 
in White County, a number of years ago. A prominent 
Methodist book agent spent the night with Neighbor Jones on 
the outskirts of Searcy, after attending the district confer- 
ence. The train left at 7 o'clock for DeVall's Bluff, and 
after a good night's sleep, the preacher relished some fried 
chicken, and appreciated the hospitality of his good brother. 
One of the young ladies of the home had an engagement with 
one of the young men to attend a May-Day fish fry at the old 
Camp Ground several miles away. While the folks were 
entertaining the preacher at breakfast, the parson forgot 
to put his night shirt in his grip, and it was folded up, and 
with the grip placed on the machine in the hallway. In the 
meantime a lunch for five, including gherkins, pickles and 
cake, pies and custards, was rolled up in about the same size 
bundle, and placed near the grip. At this juncture the buggy 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 13 



was ready and ''All aboard!" was the alarm which attracted 
the young lady, who, through mistake, took the night shirt 
instead of the fried chicken. The preacher soon followed 
with his grip, not knowing but that he had his night shirt. 
He went on the same train, and watched the fish-fry party 
get off on the bank of the river. At the noon hour, when the 
young ladies were preparing their dinner, and while their 
beaux were frying fish, they began to bet who had the 
finest lunch. And, to the surprise of all, the night shirt w^as 
soon reached, which caused a great deal of laughter. It was 
after 9 o'clock before the preacher began to retire for the 
night at Gleason's Hotel in Little Rock, and discovered that 
he had chicken for five. 

Several years ago a traveling man from Little Rock was 
called over to Dallas, Texas, and on his return he had pre- 
pared a fine lunch, and also two bottles of cold Budweiser, 
which he placed in the tray over the seat. After a two-hours ' 
run over the Texas & Pacific railroad, it was time for supper. 
The sack of grub was placed in the seat and the Budweiser 
unwrapped, and, to the traveling man's surprise, the stopper 
flew out of the bottle and hit and aged lady on the cheek, this 
caused an alarm which attracted the attention of the negro 
porter and the conductor and all the passengers. The old 
lady yelled at the top of her voice, " I am shot ! ' ' 

After travehng for more than sixteen years, it is natural 
that I can relate a number of funny incidents that took place. 
One time I went to the hotel at Warren, in Bradley County, 
and the negro porter gave me a room upstairs, which was 
very cold. There were only two thin quilts on the bed, be- 
sides a thin sheet, and after the negro porter went downstairs 
I proceeded to an adjacent room and stole all the cover sheets, 
blankets and all and placed them on my bed. I was warm 
and snug, and as I was taking a snooze I was awakened by 
a drummer in the adjoining room cursing the negro porter 
for putting him in a room where there was no "kiver." He 
told the porter that it was a wonder some one hadn't stolen 
the bedstead and carried it off. I enjoyed a good laugh while 
the drummer and porter were rummaging around for cover. 

I had some really funny experiences one time near Wood- 
son on the Saline and Pulaski County line. After two or 
three attempts to collect an account from a negro named 
Scipio, I decided tb engage in the apiary business, and, pur- 
chasing two bee-gums from him, marked the account paid. 
It was one fine April morning when I took the bee-gums with 



14 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

a quilt and hauled them to a neighbor's house and turned 
them over to an old negro, who became my partner in the 
bee business. The bees swarmed two or three times and they 
were also robbed during May and July, after one year. I 
swapped uiy part of the bees for a good shotgun and two 
turkeys. I later on swapped the shotgun for two yearlings, 
which brought me in ready cash, and I have never been in the 
bee business since. 

M}^ first experience in the newspaper business was collect- 
ing old accounts on subscriptions for 0. C. Ludwig, who was 
at that time running the Log Cabin, at Conway, and I was 
also collecting for the Arkansas Democrat, George C. Naylor 
and W. S. Mitchell being my bosses at the time. Many a 
pleasant and sad reminiscence has been recalled by me since 
those happy days have passed away. Thousands upon thou- 
sands of my personal friends have gone beyond since then. 
Well do I remember my first trip to Newport, when the Jack- 
son County Fair was on. Well do I remember my first trip 
to Monticello, when the Drew County Fair was being held. 
Last, but not least, the Johnson County Fair was one of the 
oldest and the best in the State, presided over by R. D. Dun- 
lap, w^ho was a fancier in the live stock show and also in race 
horses. 

n. 

Jeff Davis's Opening Speech at Ozark. 

On February 18, 1908, Senator Davis opened his campaign 
at Ozark, in Franklin County, in the interest of Attorney 
General W. F. Kirb}^ for Governor. In that race George W. 
Donaghey, a well-known contractor of Conway, and Prof. 
John H. Hinemon, of Arkadelphia, were the other aspirants 
for the office. One of the largest crowds that ever assembled 
in Franklin County met Governor Davis upon tliis occasion, 
and among them were Governor Donaghey and a number of 
his friends from Conway and other parts of the State. 

Governor Davis in his opening speech upon this occasion 
recalled many politically historical events, reviev^ing the boo- 
dle cases, the indictment of Tom Cox, Caldwell & Drake and 
the predictions he had made in former speeches as to Lewis 
Rhoton having a backbone of steel as big as his old grip. In 
this speech Governor Davis referred to the fact that he had 
made promises in former campaigns that M. D. L. Cook, Tom 
Cox and George W. Caldwell should wear felon's stripes. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 15 



'*I told you the Prosecuting Attorney of our district, the 
Hon. Lewis Rhoton," said he, ''had a backbone made of steel 
and that he would do his duty. Gentlemen, I thought I spoke 
to you truthfully, I thought that this officer was sincere and 
earnest in the faithful discharge of his duties. But candor 
and truthfulness compel me to confess to you today that in 
that statement I was mistaken, and, seeing the loose and lax 
efforts to prosecute these red-handed criminals, I tendered 
'to the Prosecuting Attorney, through the Attorney General, 
my services to the end that justice might be dealt out to these 
malefactors speedily. My offer was scornfully refused, and 
for what reason God Almighty and Lew^s Rhoton only knows, 
and I defy the Prosecuting Attorney now to allow me free 
and untrammeled the privilege of prosecuting these cases 
without fee or reward ; and if he does I'll promise you that at 
the next term of the Pulaski Circuit Court these men wall be 
wearing a pair of striped breeches. Cook was indicted many 
times, yet no effort was ever made at his prosecution. Cald- 
well was indicted many times, yet he is today strutting the 
streets of our Capital City with no sleuth hound of the law 
at his heels, and Tom Cox, the old he-malefactor of them all, 
has never so much as had an indictment returned against 
him, and I come to you today to retract all that I said com- 
mending Lewis Rhoton and his efforts as Prosecuting Attor- 
ney. Lewis Rhoton is again a candidate for Prosecuting 
Attorney in our district, and I trust that the good people of 
that judicial circuit -will bury him so deep under a load of 
ballots that it will take the sound of Gabriel's resurrection 
horn to bring him forth from the political death which he so 
richly deserves. 

"These men have gone scot free, while other men who 
dared stand by the feeble, helpless and defenseless people in 
the little city of Argenta just across the river from Little 
Rock, when their rights, their homes and their privileges as 
American citizens were sought to be taken from them, could 
not be driven or bulldozed by the official lash of this unnat- 
ural prosecutor, and have felt the keen sting of the law. He 
has in possession today a statement from T. L. Cox that he 
(Cox) spent $70,000 of the Iron Mountain Railroad Com- 
pany's money corrupting railroad legislation in 1905, yet, 
my friends, not one single indictment has ever been returned 
against any man for corrupt misconduct favoring the Iron 
Mountain railroad." 



16 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

At various times during the campaign Governor Davis 
declared that robbery and murder itself committed in the 
shadow of the Statehouse had gone unwhipped of justice. 
The most noted case is that of Hartley, a nonresident, who 
was robbed in open daylight at the Choctaw station by four 
thugs and tramps. Three of these men escaped temporarily, 
but Hartley captured one and turned liim over to the police 
of the city. Hartley had been robbed of $6,000, the hard earn- 
ings of a lifetime. This man whom Hartley captured was 
carried before Meisner, a justice of the peace in that city, 
positively identified, his bond was placed by Meisner at $500 
and by Rhoton it was reduced to $300, and the thief drew 
from his pocket the money he had stolen from Hartley, depos- 
ited it as a bail and the defendant fled the country. "Now, 
isn't that a nice skillet of fish?" asked Governor Da\ds. 

One time, while the campaign was at fever heat, and, as 
Governor Davis said, "as hot as an oven," the candidates 
addressed about four thousand people at Magazine, in Logan 
County. I got to work early and secured about fifteen sub- 
scribers for the Weekly Gazette, telling them that they would 
get all the campaign news in the paper. After hearing Gov- 
ernor Davis jump on the papers at Little Rock, and telling 
the audience how they were fighting him. T had a number of 
callers on the picnic grounds soon after he ceased speaking. 
At least eight or ten came to me with their receipts and said, 
"Say, Cap, I have changed my mind. I want my dollar back ; 
here is your receipt. T wouldn't let a copy of that paper 
come in my house ; Jeff said he had rather be caught with a 
dead pole-cat in his pocket." I didn't feel like arg-uing the 
question any further, and the dollar was replaced in the farm- 
er's hands. I could walk all around the place on newspapers 
that had been thrown down after Governor Da"\ds had finished 
his speech. He knew how to hold the audience spell-bound 
and knew what would take among the natives. This was one 
of the greatest features of his success — kno^ving human 
nature — and various times during the campaign he would 
have a good laus'h at my expense. 

One time, while Senator Da^ns was making a speech in the 
northern part of the State, he was sent a telegram by the 
people of Womble, inviting him to address them the next day. 
He passed through Little Rock on the fast train en route to 
Gurdon, where he spent the night. Prof. George B. Cook 
was also on the program and joined Senator Davis at the 
Union Depot. Before the train arrived, one of Senator 




JUDGE J. VIRGIL BOURLAND. 

Lifetime Persona! Friend of Jeff Davis. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 17 



Davis's friends had wrapped up several bottles of soda pop 
for the Senator and himself and gave them to Professor Cook 
to hold while he used the telephone. It was represented to 
Professor Cook as being a bundle of books. But it began 
leaking, and in a few minutes Professor Cook noticed what 
the package contained, and seeing the water drip from the 

package, said, ''Here, Mr. , here is your library; it is 

leaking." The next day Governor Davis referred to the 
occasion in his speech and said that was the first library he 
ever saw leak. 

One time, while Governor Little and Attorney General 
Rogers were making the race for Governor, Senator Da^ds 
and I engaged in a small bet. Governor Davis bet me a 
country ham that I couldn't name five counties that Rogers 
would carry. I proceeded to name Scott, Sebastian, Logan, 
Franklin and Crawford. A few weeks after the election. 
Governor Davis said to me : ''Say, my folks are out of meat; 
what about that country ham? I have the results on those 
counties." 

I had to carry Senator Davis a large country ham and W. 
B. Payne, the postmaster at Bee Branch, went out to the 
Governor's house with me. The train was an hour late, and 
the Governor was preparing to retire when I arived at his 
mansion on Broadway. The ham was accepted and the Gov- 
ernor was laughing in his sleeve about how he had won it. 

The next political tornado occurred when Governor Dona- 
ghey defeated Judge Kirby and "Sister" Hinemon, as Gov- 
ernor Davis styled him. Another bet followed. I bet Gov- 
ernor Davis a whole hog that Donaghey would defeat Kirby. 
He accepted the bet, and we made a tour of the State. I 
made the fight for Donaghey and he made the fight for Mr. 
Kirby. The result was that I became the proprietor of a 
200-pound hog shipped to Conway from a butcher shop in 
Little Rock. While Governor Davis was making the cam- 
paign he frequently referred to the bet, saving: "Mr. Kirby 
has got to win this race, as my folks are out of meat, and I 
want to win a hog off Dunaway, this Gazette man. I won a 
country ham off of him and my neighbors could smell fried 
meat for over three blocks." 

One time, in company with Doctor Abington, of Beebe, who 
was styled one of the Old Guard, Governor Davis and Mr. 
Kirby drove from Beebe over to Rosebud, in White County, 
to attend an old-fashioned picnic and political gathering. 
Governor Davis and I spent the night with a farmer by the 



18 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

name of Harrell, wlio lived between the two points. The 
next day in his speech at Rosebud Governor Davis referred 
to the good supper, consisting of turnip greens, hog jowls, 
cornbread and buttermilk. He said to the audience, ''This 
Gazette Yankee ate eggs until he had every hen on the place 
cackling." The farmers and hay-binders came in with their 
families from three or four counties and at least ten thou- 
sand people were on the grounds. Every farmer invited 
Governor Davis to go and eat dinner with him. He would 
walk around under the large, stately oaks and eat pie at one 
place, custard at another, then a slice of country ham, and 
then a slice of chicken, until he got around to more than a 
dozen places, and said he had a good notion to telephone his 
wife to send his trunk out to Rosebud. 

One of the most peculiar features of Governor Davis's 
campaign was his mixing with the people after his arrival at 
a public gathering. He would go all through the audience, 
shake hands with the farmers and their wives and children 
and discuss matters pertaining to the welfare of the farmer. 
If the cotton season w^as on he would readily say that they 
should have twelve or fifteen cents a pound for their cotton. 
He knew how to meet the ''hay-binders" from up at the forks 
of the creek and talk to them regarding matters pertaining to 
their welfare. He was always one of the boys. He would 
always ask the farmer how his crop was, how many water- 
melons he had, and if he raised any "hill-side navy." He 
usually had the audience in sympathy with him before he 
began speaking. It was very seldom that Governor Davis 
made a speech without referring to his family in some way, 
his father and mother, or his nine pointer dogs, bringing out 
some little personal event that always caught the crowd. 

One time at Corwin, in Sahne County, Governor Davis, 
Judge Wood and A. F. Vandeventer met in joint debate. 
Governor Davis was the first on the program, and spoke for 
an hour and a half, referring to Judge Wood as being the 
candidate of the silk-stocking crowd in Little Rock. Among 
other things he said : ' ' Judge Wood, I am glad that gang in 
Little Rock got you to run. I was afraid they were going to 
get a strong man to run against me." When Judge Wood 
began speaking he discussed the issues of the day for some 
time, reviewing Governor Davis's official record, and among 
other things said: "Judge Fulk and the whiskey crowd in 
Little Rock are supporting Davis." At this juncture Gov- 
ernor Davis yelled out, "I had rather be run by the whiskey 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 19 

crowd in Little Rock than by the penitentiary crowd and 
the Dickinson Manufacturing Company." 

One .time Governor Davis met Vandeventer, of Morrilton, 
in joint debate at Heber Springs. Governor Davis came first 
on the program, and spoke for an hour and a half. He 
referred to the famous sulphur springs of that place and said 
it would be one of the leading health resorts in the Southwest 
if they could only get a railroad. The next day Governor 
Davis spoke at Quitman, and after the speaking he went into 
a store and bought two or three pairs of home-made socks, 
saying these were the kind he wore when he was a boy. This 
was norated all over the county and was the cause of Gov- 
ernor Davis lining up what he termed a large per cent of 
the ''hill-billy" vote. At different times in his speeches he 
would say, "My opponents wear silk socks but I wear the 
same kind you farmers wear, and if you farmers will stay 
with me we will whip this silk-stocking crowd one more time. ' ' 

Once while Governor Davis was addressing a large crowd 
at Spring Hill Church, near Otto, he remarked in the course 
of his speech that he was getting as hot as a cooking stove. 
An old farmer who was sitting near by yelled out, "Jeff, pull 
off your coat," and another farmer yelled out, "Jeff, take 
off your collar ; we are for you, any way. ' ' To this Governor 
Davis replied that he was getting as hot as goat's wool, and, 
thanking him, divested himself of his coat and collar. 

III. 

Senator Davis's Style and Methods. 

Senator Davis flashed like a meteor across the political 
horizon of Arkansas. Never before in the history of any 
State has his equal appeared. He worked by no set rules. 
He could not be gauged by ordinary standards. If ordinary 
men had done as the Senator did, it would have ruined them. 

He was always lucky in the opposition that he had, and 
he made the most of that opposition. He rallied the support 
of the masses to his standard by showing the weaknesses of 
the opposition and attacking its vulnerable points. 

He was essentially a man of the people. He understood 
human nature as few men have ever understood it. He could 
feel the public pulse and could scent danger from afar. He 
had as much political foresight as any man I ever knew. He 
always advocated measures that could be understood by the 



20 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

people and measures that would benefit them, especially with 
which they would be in sympathy. 

It has been said that Senator Davis tried to array class 
against class. I do not think this is true. I do know that 
his heart was always beating in tune with the great throb- 
bing heart of the people, and his sympathies were with those 
who toil in the various walks of life. It has also been said 
that the country vote always elected him and that the towns 
and cities were against him. This is not true, as will be 
shown by an analysis of the vote in his three campaigns for 
Governor. He carried an average of 61 per cent of the 
county seats in the seventy-five counties in the State. In 
185 of the principal incorporated towns in the State, Senator 
Davis carried an average of 71i/^ per cent of the total vote 
during his three campaigns. While it is true that the 
so-called "red-necks" and "hill-billies" (terms coined 
by him) were lined up with Senator Davis, it is also true that 
the leading business and professional men in the largest 
towns and cities of the State were often his staunchest sup- 
porters. He classed among his closest friends some of the 
leading citizens and wealthiest men of the State; men who 
stood high in social, business and intellectual circles. 

Senator Davis's strongest weapon was his characteristic 
method of making a speech. He had a power of invective 
and ridicule that was invincible. It was this method that 
first brought him into prominence as a political spell-binder. 
B)^ means of it he made his adversary look ridiculous. As 
soon as he got started in a speech he began to pour hot-shot 
into the camp of the enemy. He always had the crowd laugh- 
ing and sometimes jeering at his opponent. He had a won- 
derful power of spontaneously coining new and unusual 
phrases that would catch the audience. If a new adversary 
appeared on the scene he would immediately, as if by intui- 
tion, think of some nick-name that would fit him and cause 
the crowd to laugh. I recall a number of these names that 
he applied to his opponent at various times — "Shug," "Aunt 
Puss," "Horace Greely," "Aunt Julie," "Aunt Jennie" and 
' ' Jubert. ' ' By his wonderful power of invective and ridicule 
he often succeeded in devastating the opposition. This is 
noticeably true in his first sensational race for Governor when 
he ran several good men out of the contest — Col. John G. 
Fletcher, Judge Edgar E. Bryant and A. F. Vandeventer. 

His language was always direct and simple and he used 
illustrations that appealed to the masses of the people and 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 21 

were easily understood by them. Hence, the people always 
** heard him gladly" and rallied to his support. 

One of Senator Davis's strongest points was his artful 
method of mingling with the crowd before and after speak- 
ing and shaking hands with them. Oftentimes after a speech 
before a large audience he would shake hands with every 
man, woman and child in the vast throng. He had a peculiar 
method of drawing people to him and making them feel, by 
this personal touch, that he was one of them — that he was 
struggling to serve them and their best interests. 

At various times while delivering a speech, and when reach- 
ing a climax, he would stamp his feet and clap his hands 
together in a remarkably quick and fascinating manner that 
would seem to inspire enthusiasm in the crowd, and they 
would most invariably follow suit by making a demonstra- 
tion. In this way he always kept a crowd entertained. No 
one has ever been found who went to sleep while Jeff Da\T.s 
was speaking; whether or not the hearers agreed vdih his 
views, they were at least well entertained. 

The Senator w^as resourceful when it came to playing 
pranks on his opponents. Once at Lonoke while Col. E. W. 
Rector, of Hot Springs, was opposing him for the Governor- 
ship, Senator Davis had some of his friends to get Colonel 
Rector to put in his pocket an old pistol which he had in his 
grip. They explained to the Colonel that a "rough-house" 
would probably follow the debate. The Colonel sat in front 
of Senator Davis, and after the latter had been speaking for 
half an hour he turned to Colonel Rector and said: "Col- 
onel, what have you got that old pistol in your pocket for? 
It is in your hip pocket and not in your grip. You want to 
murder me, don't you? You whipped George B. Cook, an 
unarmed school teacher, with that same old pistol. Will 
you let the sheriff of Lonoke County search you and show 
these ladies that gun and then get up here and tell these 
people that you are a law-abiding citizen who wants to be 
their Governor? Nay, nay, Pauline," said the Senator. 

On another occasion when the Senator met a prohibition 
candidate for Governor by the name of Adams, who lived in 
Mena, in a joint debate at Danville, the Senator was told by 
a friend that he had put a bottle of whiskey in Adams 's grip 
and that Adams had the grip on the platform. The Senator 
turned to Adams and said: "Old Sodapop, when did you 
come to town? You say you are a Prohi. I can take two 



22 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

green persimmons and squeeze on you and make you so 
drunk you wouldn't know your heels from a shotgun. Open 
up your old grip and let the crowd see that whiskey." 

"I haven't got whiskey in my grip," said Brother Adams. 
"Yes, you have; let's examine, and if you haven't I will 
donate $100 to the churches in Danville." 

The bottle of whiskey was produced and the crowd yelled 
for Jeff. 

A number of times the Senator would amuse his audience 
when he had a large crowd, by saying: ''Will some of you 
men get up and give Grandma a seat? Come in. Grandma; I 
am glad you are here ; it makes me think of my mother to see 
your sweet, wrinkled face. ' ' 



CHAPTER II 

SENATOR DAVIS'S DEATH AND FUNERAL. 

I. 
His Death. 

Jeff Davis was born in Little River County, May 6, 1862. 
He was admitted to the bar in Pope County at the age of 
nineteen years. He was elected prosecuting attorney of the 
Fifth Judicial District in 1892, and re-elected in 1894. He 
was elected Attorney General of the State in 1898. In 1901 
he was elected Governor and re-elected in 1903 and 1905, 
being the only Governor of the State to serve three terms. 
February 29, 1907, he was elected to the United States Sen- 
ate for the term beginning March 4, 1907. His term would 
have expired on March 4, 1913. 

Senator Davis's death January 2, 1913, came as a shock' 
to every one, many persons not realizing that he was even 
under the care of physicians. 

When the news of his death reached Washington great 
regret was expressed at the loss of the popular statesman. 
Congress convened for only a few minutes Friday morning 
out of respect for the deceased. 

The following Senators were appointed to attend the fun- 
eral and represent Congress : Clarke of Arkansas, Bryan 
of Florida, Ashurst of Arizona, Martine of New Jersey, Cur- 
tis of Kansas, Clapp of Minnesota, 'Gorman of New York 
and Pomerene of Ohio. 

Speaker Clark named the following committee to attend 
the funeral : Representatives Robinson, Goodwin, Macon, 
Cravens, Floyd, Oldfield and Jacoway of Arkansas, Cullop 
of Indiana, Davenport of Oklahoma, Nelson of Wisconsin, 
Miller of Minnesota, Greene of Vermont, Reese of Kansas 
and Kinkaid of Nebraska. 

When Governor Donaghey learned of the death of Senator 
Davis he immediately issued the following proclamation, 
which caused all State business to be suspended for the day: 

''Whereas, It has pleased Almighty God in His wisdom 
to remove from our midst Hon. Jeff Davis, formerly Gov- 
ernor and now United States Senator from this State; and, 

"Whereas, It is meet and proper that we pay due respect 
to his memory; now. 



24 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

''Therefore, I, George W. Donagliey, Governor of Arkan- 
sas, do hereby direct that all State departments be closed 
for this day and that all business in same be suspended as an 
evidence of respect for the memory of so prominent a citizen 
and statesman, one who has served the people of this State 
so long." 

State officials without exception expressed themselves as 
shocked and grieved at the untimely ending of the Senator. 
All sent their condolences to the bereaved family. 

Governor Donaghey made the following statement: 

'*I am greatly grieved to learn of the death of our distin- 
guished Senator, and his family and friends have my sincere 
sATiipathy. Although his enemies charged Senator Da\as 
with many faults, yet no one can deny that he has done a 
great deal of good for Arkansas." 

As a result of the death of Senator Davis a political con- 
dition arose with many complex sides. Who mil be the next 
Senator? This was the question being asked everywhere. 
Many possibilities were suggested, among them being Gov. 
George W. Donaghey, Governor-elect Joe T. Robinson, Attor- 
ney General Hal L. Norwood, Stephen Brundidge, and others. 
Governor Robinson, Attorney General Norwood, Colonel 
Brundidge and Judge W. F. Kirby were candidates before 
tlie Legislature and Governor Robinson was elected. 

Governor Donaghey appointed J. N. Heiskell, editor of the 
Arkansas Gazette, successor to Senator Da\is, but the ap- 
pointee served only a short time, as the Constitution of the 
United States provides that the appointment is good only 
until the Legislature of a State meets and elects a man or 
confirms the Governor's appointment. 

Mr. Davis's term would have expired in March. He was 
selected for another term at the preceding primary, however, 
and his election was to have been confirmed at the 1913 ses- 
sion of the Legislature. 

Soon after the inauguration of Joe T. Robinson as Gov- 
ernor the Legislature elected Judge W. M. Kavanaugh of 
Little Rock as United States Senator to succeed Senator J. 
N. Heiskell, and he served in the Senate until Senator Robin- 
son qualified in March, a few days before the adjournment 
of the Legislature. 

The resignation of Governor Robinson brought about a 
fight for the governorsliip, which was not finally settled until 
Judge George W. Hays, of Camden, was elected Governor at 
the special election in July, defeating Colonel Brundidge in a 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 25 



special primary and Harry H. Myers, Republican, and George 
W. Murphy, Progressive, in the special election. So it came 
about that through the death of Senator Davis, Arkansas 
had in three months live United States Senators— Clarke, 
Davis, Heiskell, Kavanaugh and Robinson— and in six 
months, through a combination of circumstances, six Gover- 
nors and Acting Governors — Donaghey, Robinson, Oldham, 
Rogers, Futrell and Hays. 

At the time of his death the Arkansas Gazette said of 
Senator Davis: 

''Mr. Davis was a unique figure in the politics of Arkan- 
sas. His principal support came from the country people 
of the State, of whom his constant expression was that he 
was one. 

''While the departed Senator had been subjected to a great 
deal of criticism by the press of the country, he was not the 
man pictured by them. He was straightforward in his man- 
ner and stuck to his friends and made a practice of working 
for the class he claimed to represent— the farmers and poor 
men of the State. 

"When Mr. Davis first took his seat in Congress he cre- 
ated a sensation throughout the country by making a speech 
during the first term of his senatorship. This was breaking 
all previous precedents for the Senate. At another time he 
was called to account for an alleged expression said to have 
been made in regard to an Arkansas land case which was 
before the United States Senate." 

II. 

The Funekal. 

The Arkansas Gazette published the following account of 
the funeral: 

Senator Davis was buried here Sunday afternoon with all 
honors that could be accorded any man. 

The funeral was one of the largest and most impressive 
ever seen in this section of the United States. 

Many men of note were present to pay their last respects 
to the dead. Senators, Congressmen, State officials, legisla- 
tors, city and county officials and many others gathered at the 
graveside. 

Thousands of people who could not gain admittance to the 
church where the funeral was held stood on the outside with 
heads bared until the ser\ice was over. 



26 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Promptly at 3 o'clock as appointed the funeral procession 
left the home of the Davis family, where the dead Senator 
had been lying in state since his death, and moved toward 
the church where the public services were to be held. 

The procession was headed by the First Regiment Band of 
the Arkansas State Militia; following the band was a battal- 
ion of soldiers from the military post located in the city, 
these were followed by two companies of Arkansas State 
Militia. 

After the military sections followed the congressional com- 
mittee in carriages, and these by State ofiScials and honorary 
pallbearers who were on foot. Then followed the hearse 
with the active pall bearers walking beside it. The imme- 
diate family and fiiends were behind the hearse in carriages. 

It was an impressive sight to look down the line of march 
and see the long procession coming up the street with the 
soldiers keeping perfect time and moving at a slow walk. 
The procession was many blocks long, and the first part had 
reached the church before the last part has leaving the Davis 
home. 

When the church was reached the soldiers were lined up in 
ranks and stood at attention as the body of the late Senator 
was carried into the church. 

At the entrance of the church, extending from the side- 
walk into the church, were many members of the Robert C. 
Newton bugle and drum corps, who stood at attention as the 
people filed into the church. 

As the body was borne into the church it was preceded by 
Rev. Ben Cox, pastor of the First Baptist Church, and by 
Dr. R. G. Bowers, president of Ouachita College, a Hfe-long 
friend of the dead statesman. 

Behind the casket came the active pall bearers, the com- 
mittee from Congress, the honorary pall bearers, State offi- 
cials and members of the family of the late Senator. On the 
arm of her grandson and leaning on her cane for further 
support, the bent form of the Senator's aged mother tottered 
down the aisle and sank into a pew, crushed with grief. The 
pipe organ played softly as the funeral party entered. 

After the choir had sung ''My Faith Looks Up to Thee," 
Doctor Bowers read from the Scriptures and offered prayer. 
He prayed that the grief of the family be mitigated by the 
assurance of a meeting after death, asked a blessing upon 
the National Congress and upon tlie people of Arkansas 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 27 



who were gathered to pay a last tribute to the memory of 
the man they admired so greatly. 

''No Arkansas man who ever has died has been so sincerely 
mourned as our departed brother, Senator Jeff Davis," said 
the Rev. Ben Cox. He referred to the admirable qualities 
of the dead Senator, of his loyalty to his friends and devo- 
tion to his aged mother and members of his family, as well 
as his liberality to the church. Then he gave a short sketch 
of the life of Senator Davis and deplored the untimeliness of 
his death. 

''It was mth joyous anticipation," said the speaker, "that 
he was looking forward to the next meeting of the Senate, 
with a Democratic majority and a Democratic President." 
Then he told of the Senator's interest in the church of which 
he was a member. The Senator, he said, was not able to 
attend services with regularity, because of his political duties, 
but never failed in his financial support. Some of the pas- 
tor's most cherished possessions were letters, he said, from 
Senator Davis concerning the church's finances. 

"Senator Davis was intense in his likes and intense in his 
dislikes," said the pastor, "but always he was a friend of 
those who were his friends. He was muck criticised, but 
never was he accused of crookedness in politics. He was a 
man who heartily despised shams and had little use for frills. 
By his death we are impressed that the most certain thing 
about life is its uncertainty." The remainder of his sermon 
he devoted to extending words of consolation to members of 
the family. "Wliile there is grief here today there is a jubi- 
lee across the river." 

The services at the church lasted over an hour on account 
of the immense crowd who desired to see the remains. The 
First Baptist Church, where the services were held, has a 
seating capacity of over 2,000 people, but the church would 
not near hold all that desired to attend. 

After the funeral services the cortege moved to the ceme- 
tery where the burial services were held. 

At Mount Holly Cemetery where Senator Davis was buried 
was the largest crowd ever assembled for any like occasion. 
It was estimated that between five and ten thousand people 
were at the graveside to do honor to the departed. 

Amid tall and aged oaks the last rites were said as the 
immense crowd stood wdth bared heads and listened. 

The space about the burial place had been kept cleared. 
To the east of the grave were seated the members of Con- 



28 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

gress, while directly behind them had been placed chairs for 
the State officials. Within to the lot and to the north of the 
grave the members of the family and relatives were seated. 
The regular soldiers and militiamen formed lines south and 
west of the grave and along the roadway, standing at present 
arms as the casket was lowered to its last resting place. The 
burial ritual and prayer were said at the grave by the Rev. 
Ben Cox. 

A choir sang as the casket was lowered into the grave and 
the grave filled. 

III. 

Eulogy by Judge Jeptha H. Evans. 

Judge Jeptha H. Evans, of Booneville, a life-long friend of 
the late Senator Davis, spoke at the grave as it was being 
filled. 

He eulogized and praised the departed, and in glowing 
terms gave a brief sketch of the Senator's life as it was 
known to him. 

''When a giant carrying easily the loads of fife in the full- 
ness of his power falls dumb and prostrate in the earth, 
heart-stricken, by the darts of death," said Judge Evans, 
"we, his surviving friends, gather in confused agony around 
his unbreathing form, and unavailing tears spring unbidden 
to the surface and baptize with sorrow's sacred streams the 
pale countenance of those who loved him while he lived. How 
utterly worthless do we feel in death's mysterious presence. 

"I knew this tower of strength that lies in human ruin 
before me for a long term of years. Senator Davis was 
reared in the same section of the State where I have lived 
since boyhood. We lived about fifty or sixty miles apart, 
and I am his senior by a year or two. I was born at the 
beginning of the fratricidal struggles between the States and 
he just as the conflict became flagrant. His father was a 
minister of the Baptist Church and mine a minister in the 
Methodist Church, and both bore arms as members of the 
Arkansas troops in the Confederate Army. On reaching 
manhood Senator Davis went to the law, and I have made 
some struggling efforts in the same direction. 

"I knew Senator Davis first as a young lawyer at the 
bar. He was from the beginning a man of marked ability 
and adaption to the law. I was frequently in his judicial 
circuit and often witnessed his forensic strength. He was 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 29 

possessed of a legal mind of the intuitive kind. Where other 
men painfully sought out precedents and tried to follow legal 
principles along centuries of deviating counsel in order to 
ascertain the law, young Davis, with the precision of first- 
hand knowledge — of intuition — announced the right result. 

''Senator Davis was one of the finest trial lawyers I have 
ever known. He forgot nothing, overlooked nothing, neg- 
lected nothing and saw through everything. The principles 
of the law favoral)le to his client's cause he stated clearly 
and handled with consummate skill. The evidence entitling 
his client to win he presented to courts and juries with such 
force that avoidance of the result he sought was all but im- 
possible. He could come nearer than any lawyer I have ever 
known ignoring out of the judicial equation the principles of 
law and the testimony of witnesses unfavorable to his client's 
side. 

''He was not very well suited to try a cause for a rich 
citizen against a common citizen. Indeed, I do not think 
he ever engaged in such a service. His great delight was to 
champion in court and vindicate the rights of the poor and 
weak against the rich and strong. His feelings and sympa- 
thies were always intensely human. While he was one of 
the ablest and most successful prosecuting attorneys the 
State of Arkansas ever had in its commission, I have fre- 
quently heard him thank God that no man was ever executed 
as result of his four-vears' ser^dce as prosecuting attorney 
of the Fifth Judicial District. 

His legal successes were always phenomenal, and at the 
time of his death his law firm from every quarter of the State 
was looked to as the champion of the weak against the strong, 
as capable of securing in the courts of justice the lea'al right 
of the poor against the illeoral right of the rich. The Lord 
Erskine, lord by divine right of poverty, ability, sympathy 
and eloquence, of the Arkansas bar, lies voiceless before me. 
He has gone to a higher court, a court where justice never 
miscarries, where the juries are never bribed and where the 
judge never nods. 

"Can we believe that before such a tribunal the man who 
lived and died in the service of his fellow-men can ever be 
condemned? Can he who always loved justice and mercy, 
and devoted all the powers of a great personality to securing 
these for others ever find himself stripped and naked in the 
hour of his greatest need? The man who can answer this 



30 THE LITE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

question in the affirmative can find consolation in blackening 
the name of God. 

''Senator Davis really entered into deepest sympathy with 
the common men and no greater tribune of the people has 
lived and died on the banks of the great Mississippi. Their 
sorrows were his sorrows and their triumphs were his tri- 
umphs. With him his friends were always uppermost and 
their welfare his constant solicitude. No man was ever more 
devoted and considerate of mother, wife or children. His 
unfaltering loyalty to these was a proverb everywhere. 
Love, loyalty and devotion were his in full perfection. 

''Back to the Infinite Presence out of which he came as a 
half century of benedictions to his fellow-men, we reverently 
commit our friend, thankful for his coming, and grieved, 
inexpressibly grieved, at his going away. Living he was in 
all things great and he is greater in his death." 

Girl friends of the Da^ds family, after the grave had been 
filled, placed the floral tributes about the grave, and for 
many feet around the ground was literally covered with 
flowers. 

As the mourners filed away from the grave it was growing 
dark and threatening rain every moment. Many people re- 
mained after the street lights had been lighted to see the 
beautiful floral tributes that had been placed about the grave. 

The honorary pall-bearers were Judge T. H. Humphreys, 
Fayetteville ; Judge J. V. Bourland, Fort Smith ; Judge Jacob 
Trieber, Little Rock; Henry Stroup, Paris; T. M. Mehaffy, 
Little Rock; Judge W. M. Kavanaugh, Little Rock; J. C. 
Marshall, Little Rock; T. A. Pettigrew, Charleston; Dan 
Quinn, Little Rock; J. S. Maloney, Little Rock; G, G. Dan- 
dridge, Paris; Dr. H. C. Stinson, Little Rock; H. S. Powell, 
Camden ; Judge R. E. Jeffrey, Newport ; Judge J. G. Wallace, 
Russellville ; Thad Bradsher, Harrisburg; 0. B. Gordon, 
Prescott; C. D. James, Eureka Springs; Troy Pace, Harri- 
son; R. A. Young, Greenwood; West Humphrey, Russellville. 

The active pall-bearers were Judge W. F. Kirby, Little 
Rock; former Congressman C. C. Reid, Little Rock; Judge 
E. A. Mahoney, El Dorado; Judge Jeptha H. Evans, Boone- 
ville; James Surridge, Walnut Ridge; George R. Belding, 
Hot Springs ; Judge George W. Hays, Camden. 



CHAPTER III 

SAYINGS OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS. 

' ' If an)'- of you farmers want to buy a little squirrel-headed 
editor, and haven't got change for a nickel just rub up against 
a slot machine — take one on and act like you had good sense." 



"I do not know that I will ever marry again, but if I do I 
am coming out here in the country and marry one of these 
big, fat country girls, that can cook an oven of hot biscuit, 
throw them up the chimney, and run around and catch them 
in her apron before I can get my boots on." 



''Some men want a woman to sing 'Amazing Grace How 
Sweet the Sound,' and know how to tune a piano, but I want 
one that knows how to tune a hot stove and bake big, hot 
biscuit with pimples on them." 



"The campaign is getting as hot as a cooking stove, but if 
the Old Guard will stand with me we will whip the gang one 
more time." 



''Some of the gang in Little Rock wanted that one-armed 
Frank Vaughan to run against me for Governor, and he 
would if it had not been for breaking up a poker game. They 
broke up the choir in the Second Baptist Church getting 
Judge Wood to run, but they didn't want to break up a 
poker game and the choir, too." 



After spending the night at a farm house near Drake's 
Creek, in Washington County, a twenty-five-mile drive was 
completed to an old-fashioned barbecue in Madison County. 
The hay-binders were there from all parts of the county. 
Farm wagons and teams were scattered for over a mile. Two 
bands played while a number of youngsters were seated on 
the platform singing until the arrival of Governor Davis, 
who was the center of attraction for the immense crowd. 
Among other things Governor Davis said: 

"Myself and this Gazette Yankee spent the night with Mat 
Grubbs. We were royally entertained and I spent a very 
pleasant night at one of the most beautiful farm homes I 



32 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

ever had the pleasure of visiting. We had hot biscuits for 
supper, big slices of country ham, with hot gravy, onions, 
turnip greens, hog jowls and buttermilk. This Gazette Yan- 
kee ate eggs until he had every hen in the valley cackling. 
If there is anything in the world that I do love it is cornbread 
hog jowls, turnip greens and buttermilk. Mr. Chairman, 
don't that make your mouth water? I went to Napper's 
house after supper. I enjoyed a good night's sleep and was 
awakened by the smell of fried country ham, and the bark of 
the friendly watch dog. I dressed and went on the front 
porch, looking down the hillside and valleys; there I saw 
Nature robed with all its beauty. I looked to the right and 
saw the cattle on the hillside; I looked to the left and saw 
more than a dozen bee-gums. I looked into the cow lot, and 
there I saw more than a half dozen loads of manure piled up, 
and on the right was more than three cords of stove wood 
placed in proper order. The house was beautifully painted, 
'the old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket, the moss-cov- 
ered bucket wliich hangs in the well' was in the proper place. 
The chickens were flying down from the hen roosts; the sun 
was rising in the eastern horizon and kissing the morning 
dew drops. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, there was a beautiful 
picture of Nature in all of its glory. Last, but not least, I 
looked down upon the hillside and there I saw more than a 
hundred goats, enjoying the morning dew drops from General 
Green's pasture. Did you farmers know that goats were one 
of the finest things a farmer ever raised? The sheriif don't 
get after them, the tax assessor don't put them on the books, 
you don't have to feed them anything, only just throw them 
a copy of the Gazette or Democrat once a week, give them 
an old tin can, or throw them an old home-made gourd. The 
beauty of it is if one of them dies you do not lose anything — 
only a stink." 



"If the boys in the hills will only touch hands with the boys 
in the valley, we will win one more victory for good govern- 
ment, and in the meantime whip these yankees out on dry 
land and let them stink themselves to death." 



''A committee of you farmers can take Judge Wood, Van- 
deventer and this Gazette Yankee out back of the smokehouse, 
take off their vests, shake them around like a dog would a 
two-year-old 'possum, and you can put skates on a negro boy 




JUDGE JEPTHA H. EVANS. 

A Man of the People, with Many Characteristics Similar 

to Those of Jeff Davis. Judge Evans Delivered the 

Oration at Senator Davis's Funeral. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 33 

and have Mm skating around on railroad passes for ten feet. 
If you lack a foot or two having enough to plaster on the 
railroad passes go down in the Judge's pocket and get a few 
street car tickets. ' ' 



One time Governor Davis addressed about three thousand 
people at Cabot, in Lonoke County. Farmers came from 
Faulkner, White, Pulaski and Lonoke counties, and the Gov- 
ernor made them a two-hours' speech. Mayor J. H. Braw- 
ley was chairman of the meeting, and the Old Guard was out 
in full force, with their jeans pants. Governor Davis re- 
ferred to them as the "Wool Hat Brigade." Judge W. V. 
Tompkins, of Prescott, represented Judge Wood at the speak- 
ing. Governor Davis said: "The opposition hasn't friends 
enough here to get up a poker game, and if I would let my 
friends do as they want to do they would put you on the train 
and send you back to your wife at Prescott." 

After the speaking was over, about 1 o'clock, the reception 
committee took the distinguished speakers in charge and 
started over to the hotel for a 1 o'clock lunch. At his earnest 
soHcitation, one Meredith Shirley, a farmer, living near the 
Faulkner County line, had the pleasure of entertaining the 
Governor instead of the reception committee. "I had rather 
eat turnip greens, hog jowls and cornbread with you fellows 
out here around the wagon than to go into the hotel and eat 
with the high-collared crowd," said the Governor. Before 
Governor Davis had finished eating his dinner at least two 
hundred farmers had gathered around the wagon watching 
him eat and shaking hands with the guest of the day. 

As we returned on the train Governor Davis said: "I 
caught that entire crowd of farmers by staying out at that 
farm wagon and eating that good country grub and brag- 
ging on Mr. Shirley's children." 



Senator Davis, Judge Wood and Vandeventer spoke at 
Redfield once, and a heavy rain drenched the entire crowd 
of four thousand people. Doctor Reynolds was chairman of 
the meeting and the Old Guard was out in full force. The 
next day they addressed a large audience at Sheridan, in 
Grant County, and among other things the Governor said: 
"I was sorry, my friends, all got mad at me yesterday at 
Redfield, but I couldn't help it; they all got as wet as drowned 
rats. Just before the speaking began the winds blew and 
the floods came. Judge Wood had his wife's parasol with 



34 THE LiFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

him, and he got all of his friends under his wife 's parasol and 
kept them dry. Judge Vandeventer sent up to the store, 
bought a dollar and a half umbrella and kept all of his friends 
dry. All of my friends stayed out in the rain and got wet. 
Women, with babies in their arms, shuffled around for shel- 
ter, and the babies got so w^et they would shp out of their 
mother's arms just like eels." 



One time Governor Davis was invited out to Cologne Bay 
in Arkansas County, several miles from DeWitt. It was 
late in the fall of the year, and this was the last old-time bar- 
becue of the season. After the band had entertained the 
audience for some time and after two or three dog-fights 
around the camp grounds. Governor Davis was introduced by 
one of the Old Guard. Among other things he said : 

''Ah, ladies and gentlemen, as I came through on the sun- 
kissed prairies of Arkansas County, down to the beautiful 
city of DeWitt, it recalled old times to me. It recalled the 
time when I was a bare-foot boy with laughing eyes, chasing 
the winged butterfly up at Dover, in good old Pope County, 
away up there off the railroad, where the moon, the sun and 
the stars shine thirteen months in the year ; recalled the time 
when I learned to play ' Naught is a naught, figure is a figure, 
multiply the white man and subtract the nigger ; ' recalled the 
time when I learned to play the fiute and fiddle, and of course 
to part my hair in the middle. Many a moonlight October 
night have I turned my hounds out o'er the hills and valleys 
of good old Pope County and the most beautiful music that 
would ever come from the keys of an organ would come from 
those long, flop-eared hounds of mine. I have picked cotton, 
'possum-hunted and raised great big old yellow yam potatoes 
and pumpkins. Mr. Chairman, isn't your mouth watering? 
The next night I would pore over my books, as I would learn 
geometry, common fractions, long division, subtraction and 
addition, take down the map and learn to bound everything 
except the political geography of Arkansas ; and while I was 
doing all of that these Yankees running against me were in 
North Dakota learning how to make macaroni." 

At this juncture Governor Davis turned towards his oppo- 
nent and said: "Aunt Julie, I understand you can make 
better chile concarne, hot tamales and macaroni than any 
bare-footed nigger in Little Rock. If you can, you had better 
put on your white apron and get busy, as you will never be 
Governor of Arkansas." 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 35 

This caused a great deal of laughter, and the old wool hats 
went up into the trees and looked like buzzards flying over. 



Once while Governor Davis was making a drive from Mel- 
bourne, Izard County, to Mountain Home, Baxter County, 
one or two days were spent in a pleasant way. The Gover- 
nor had appointments every ten miles, and from two to four 
speeches would be made each day. He would always refer 
to the gang in Little Rock ; how they were opposing him, and 
said: *'If you farmers will stay with me we'll lick the gang 
in Little Rock one more time." 

At different times while dri^nng along the road we would 
meet a farmer or a chicken peddler and the Governor would 
say, ''Captain, I would like to get a chew of hillside navy. 
My name is Governor Davis, and I am sure glad to meet 
you." He would always take particular pains in asking the 
price of the yoke of oxen, how old the mules were, or how 
many chickens there were in the coop. At one time he bought 
two dozen chickens and three large country hams from a 
chicken peddler, and had them shipped from Guion to his 
residence in Little Rock. 



Several years ago Governor Davis was invited to Rogers, 
where he opened the Benton County Fair. After he had been 
talking for some time, an old farmer in the audience yelled 
out, "Go on, Jeff, and speak as long as you want to; we are 
all for you," which caused a great deal of lauerhter. In reply 
Governor Davis said: ''Much oblisred. Captain; but I wish 
vou would sit down and let one fool talk at a time." 



Over in Madison County a farmer wore a $2 wool hat at 
the expense of Governor Davis. It came up in this way: 
Once before when Governor Davis was addressinsr a Madison 
County audience, a long- whiskered farmer bawled the Gov- 
ernor out. "If you will have that fellow to get in the back 
end of the house and bawl me out," said the Governor, "I 
will buy you a new hat." and the trade was soon made. After 
court had opened and the jury was empanelled Governor 
Davis began giviner his exr)erience to the hijrhlanders from 
up at the forks of the creek. He was telling about the con- 
vict eating pork and beans, and about ne9:ro guards using 
shotguns watchinc the convicts plow and hoe on the State 
farm. "Go on back to Little Rock, where you belong," said 
the native with the long whiskers. "Mr. Sheriff, take that 



36 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



old coon out, lock him up in jail, and if you don't I will have 
one of these farmers take a froe and shave that alfalfa off 
his face." The crowd yelled, and no one in the audience 
knew how the trick was worked. 



''The campaign is getting as hot as a cooking stove. I 
hope the Old Guard will all rally to me one more time. If 
you will we will whip that gang in Little Eock once more. I 
see the Gazette agent out there in the audience giving out 
that old red harlot, the Arkansas Gazette. I had rather be 
caught with a dead buzzard under my arm or a dead pole- 
cat." 



Eeferring to the Supreme Court of Arkansas, Governor 
Davis said: "There is old Judge B. B. Battle, a member of 
the Supreme Court, who is president of the ice trust in Little 
Eock. When I brought suit against them M^ho do you think 
we had to serve the papers on? An old coon out on a limb 
by himself— Judge Battle. One of you farmers can take a 
pickaxe and run up under his tooth and dig out a quid of 
gold as big as a young puppy." 

One time Senator Davis was making one of his famous 
campaign speeches to an audience of three thousand people, 
and after he had been speaking for half an hour he asked 
them to excuse him as he was ''hot as goat's wool." Just 
after he had pulled off his coat two large dogs began fighting 
out at one side and the audience began to disperse, when the 
Senator said: "Keep your seats. It is just one dog wal- 
lomng another like I am wallowing my opponents. I didn't 
know that I was going to have a row among the dogs or I 
wouldn't have removed my coat." 



"I have whipped the squirrel-headed editors in Little Rock; 
in fact, all over Arkansas, until you couldn't convict a negro 
for stealing on the testimony of half a dozen of these squir- 
rel heads." 



"I lied on Judge Vandeventer the other day. I went off 
half-cocked and said that while Judge Vandeventer was run- 
ning against me for Governor his \\^fe was at home taking 
in washing for a living. I lied about this, as I made a little 
investigation and found out she was only drawing the water. ' ' 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 37 

*' Judge Bryant, you come up here on the platform; come 
ap here where the ladies can see you. Ladies and gentlemen, 
I want to show you the color of one man's hair that never 
hugged a woman in his hfe. Look at the Judge's bald head. 
I can shave one of these eighteen-year-old boys, put an old 
dress on him and run Judge Bryant out of town." 



"I am going to put knee breeches on Judge Wood and run 
him for page when the Legislature meets. I will also try to 
get Vandeventer some kind of a job, even if I have to have 
him put in as chambermaid around the Statehouse. 



** During the sitting of the last Legislature you couldn't 
even get the Holy Bible through the Legislature until you got 
the 0. K. of Dodge & Johnson, railroad attorneys, who kept 
a paid lobby hanging around the Legislature." 



** Everything has been put on the free list except acorns 
and persimmons, and I said for God's sake put 'possums on 
the free list as I can eat more 'possums and yellow yam pota- 
toes than any negro out of jail. This Gazette Yankee gets 
into everj^thing except shooting scrapes. He can actually 
smell barbecued meat a mile. Well, I am lying about that; 
he can 't smell it over half a mile. ' ' 



''When I was prosecuting attorney of my district I prose- 
cuted criminals and put them in jail until I would actually 
have their feet hanging out of the windows." 



*'I have got eight children and nine pointer dogs in Lit- 
tle Rock. If any of you farmers should come to the city 
come to my house and make it your home. The fatted calf 
will be killed, and I will roll down a few big yellow yams, fry 
some country hams and cook about two dozen eggs and we 
will eat eggs until we have every old hen on the Arkansas 
River cackling. Just come down there and act like you had 
good sense." 



In one of Senator Davis's famous speeches, delivered 
November 5, 1903, among other things he said: ''Ladies and 
gentlemen, it affords me very great pleasure to come to the 
good county of Carroll and address this audience of its rep- 



38 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

resentative citizenship. I have always loved the people in 
the mountains; since I was a small boy and read the tale of 
the Scottish Chiefs I have always loved the hardy highlander. 
When I was prosecuting attorney of my district and rode 
over the hills and valleys of my home county, often at night 
I have seen far up on the mountain-side a tiny light. I have 
heard the bleating of the goats or the tinkle of the cow bell 
or the baying of the friendly watch dog. I have gone to that 
home, humble though it was, and there received the most 
generous hospitality the world can afford — and I love the 
people of the hills, and if they will but touch hands witb the 
boys in the valleys we will in this campaign gain a victory for 
good government and good citizenship in Arkansas. 

''I come to you today, my fellow-citizens, to tell you what 
I have done since I have been your Governor, to tell you 
what I hope to do if I am again elected to that honorable 
position. I believe that any public servant ought to be will- 
ing and ready at all times to give to the people faithful and 
true an account of his stewardship since they have honored 
him, and that is why I am here today. ' ' 



''I am a Hard Shell Baptist in religion; I believe in foot- 
washing, saving your seed potatoes, and paying your honest 
debts." 



"Aunt Julie, when did you come to town? If any of you 
farmers want to get a pardon after the election you will have 
to call and see Aunt Puss." 



"The other day an old hay -binder from Skipper's Gap 
attended our speaking. He took Judge Wood off by the nap 
of the coat tail, and I supposed they were going out behind 
the smokehouse to get a drink of booze. The fellow asked 
Judge Wood who his campaign manager was, and Judge 
Wood replied that it was a little lawyer down at Little Rock. 
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a little two-by-four of an up-start 
of a lawyer in Little Rock by the name of Wylie, who hasn't 
got sense enough to bound Pulaski County. The farmer 
also drug me off to one side and I thought he was going to 
bum me for a chew of hill-side navy. He asked me who my 
campaign manager was, and I told him it was just the farm- 
ers of Arkansas." 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 39 

''I am getting tired of politics; politics will ruiu anybody 
in the world; it has almost ruined me." 



''When Judge Wood gets up to speak I want you farmers 
to call on him for one of his songs. He is the singing candi- 
date in this race. I can't sing. I ruined my voice crying 
for gravy when I was little. Judge Wood makes more racket 
singing in the choir in Little Rock than one of you farmers 
would calling your hogs at home." 



"Once the Democratic State Central Committee arranged 
for me to meet in joint debate a noted Populist speaker by 
the name of Cyclone Davis from Texas. We were to meet 
at Batesville. I was called to St. Louis on some business 
two days before, and was to take an early train out of St. 
Louis for Newport. I missed my train. Somebody stole 
my pants, and I was so glad. When I got up next morning 
I couldn't get out in time to buy another pair and catch the 
train, and I have always been so thankful to some St. Louis 
thief for keeping me from getting a good skinning from a 
Popuhst speaker from Texas." 



"I was invited over to Dallas, Texas, the other day to 
make them a speech. I told them all about the resources, 
the razor-backs, the squirrel-heads, our navigable streams, 
our good-looking w^omen, and our million dollars in the State 
treasury. I told our sister State of Texas to come over in 
Arkansas with some blank notes, and we, would lend them 
all the cash she wanted." 



"Old Armour and Cudahy never raised a sow and pigs in 
their hves. Yet the prices of meat are so high that I can 
hardly buy breakfast bacon in Little Rock enough to support 
my family. I just buy one little shce, hang it up by a long 
string, and let each one of my kids jump up and grease their 
mouths and go on to bed." 

"If you will send me up to Washington I ^dll let that gang 
know I am in town. I will pull off a speech that will knock 
down the cobwebs before I am there two weeks. (An old 
farmer at this stage of the game yelled out, "That is all right, 
Jeff; we are going to send you to Washington," and threw 
his hat ten feet high over the audience.) 



40 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

''This is a very prosperous country, for all along the road 
I have not been able to see anything but children, watermel- 
ons and hill-side navy. The amount of tobacco the farmers 
of Arkansas raise should make the price of Star Navy and 
plug tobacco go down." 



"I have been led many a time to a farm house on the hill- 
side or valley by the smell of fried meat, as I can smell it 
further than I can hear a dinner horn or an old cow bell." 



"If there is any one profession in the world that the Amer- 
ican people can do without it is the la^vyer. Most of them 
want to go to the Legislature, and become the proprietor of 
a railroad pass or be appointed beer-inspector. Lawyers 
don't do anything but raise a row, and get you farmers into 
a lawsuit. There are more little puny, hook-nosed lawyers 
around Little Rock than any town of its size in the United 
States. They are always onto their job." 



"I have got a little eight-year-old boy at home. I have 
been thinking of making a preacher out of him. Some want 
me to make a lawyer out of him, but I don 't care if he makes 
a chicken peddler or anything else, but when he gets grown 
and I find he hasn't got any sense at all I am going to make 
an editor out of him; then there will be one more squirrel- 
head in Arkansas. Most newspaper editors can live on saw- 
dust and wind and make the \\TLnd themselves." 



"My campaign against my opponents is going to be as 
easy as taking candy from a baby. I want all you fellows 
who ever took a drink to vote for me, and all of those who 
haven't may vote for Judge Wood. I can stay at home and 
sleep and beat Judge Wood or this Yankee from Morrilton. 
I am depending on the horny-handed, sun-burned sons of toil, 
the men that pull the bell-rope over the mule, to help me fight 
this battle, and if the boys in the hills will only touch hands 
with the boys in the valley we will gain one more victory for 
good government." 



"Judge Wood, who is your campaign manager? I know 
who he is. It is a little two-by-four of an upstart of a poh- 
tician in Little Rock that has hold of the throttle for the 
morality crowd. Who has charge of my campaign? It is 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 41 

the laboring class. It is the farmer. It is the mechanic. It 
is the brickmason and the wool-hat brigade of this State 
who are assigned the duty of looking out after my interests 
in this contest." 



**The other day an old farmer caught Judge Wood by the 
nape of the coat tail and took him off to one side like he was 
going to ask about a horse thief and said, 'Judge, who got 
you into this race?' The Judge said, 'Oh, for God's sake, 
don't ask me who got me into it; ask me who is going to get 
me out' I will tell you, ladies and gentlemen, who is going 
to get the Judge out of the race. It is the farmer, the me- 
chanic, the wood-haulers, the red-necks and the patched- 
britches brigade. They are going to put the Judge out on 
dry land." 



In discussing the legislative hearing on the Anti-Trust Bill, 
Senator Davis said: ''The committee sent for witnesses, and 
whom did they send for, my fellow-citizens? Did they send 
for the farmer? Did they send for the laborer? Did they 
send for the manufacturer? Did they send for the mechanic? 
Did they send for the merchant? Did they send for the class 
of citizens who bare their breasts and their arms and their 
backs to the heat and burden of the day? No. They sent 
for the insurance agents from Pine Bluff, and Helena, and 
from Fort Smith, and for a high-collared crowd that wear 
collars so high they can't see the sun except at high noon 
looking over the tops of their collars. They sent for the 
crowd that when they shake hands with you they only give 
you the tip of their finger. The crowd "that you can't tell 
from their tracks whether they are going or coming back." 

"Gentlemen, I may never see jon again. I hope that I 
will hold out physically in this race. If God will only give 
me strength, that is all I ask. When you present a thing to 
the people and they see it they will always do right. I love 
my native State. I love its hills and its valleys. I love its 
bright waters. From the health-giving waters of Eureka 
Springs on the north to the great Father of Waters on the 
east, that finally loses itself in the tepid waters of the Gulf; 
from the pine lands and prairies of the west to our eastern 
borders, all up and down the hills and valleys of Arkansas, 
there lives as noble, as brave, as generous, as gentle a race 
of people as ever sunned themselves in the smile of Omnipo- 



42 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

tent God. The papers say that nobody will vote for me 
except the fellows that wear patched britches and one gallus. 
and live up the forks of the creek, and don't pay anything 
except their poll tax. I don't know how true that is, but I 
want to tell you that there is no great reformation that ever 
originated on this earth that did not come from the ranks 
of the humble and lowly of the land. Jesus Christ, when He 
went out and started the greatest reformation that ever 
blessed mankind, went to the humble and the lowly. He went 
to the fisherman's cot, to the stone-cutter's bench; He didn't 
have but one smart man in the crowd and He had to knock 
the filling out of him before He could use him." 



"The fight is on; it is between the trusts and the corpora- 
tions and the people. If I win this race I have got to win it 
from 525 insurance agents scattered all over the State; I 
have to win it from every railroad, every bank, two-thirds 
of the lawyers and most of the big politicians; but, if I can 
get the plain people of the country to help me, God bless you, 
we will clean the thing up. Do you mean it? Are you in 
earnest? If so, help me; as I say, all that I am, all that I 
ever expect to be, I commit into your hands and your keeping, 
knowing that if I deserve your confidence I wt^II receive it. 
If I do not merit it, you will withhold it." 



"If you red-necks or hill-billies ever come to Little Eock 
be sure and come to see me — come to my house. Don't go 
to the hotels or the wagon-yards, but come to my house and 
make it your home while you are in the Capital City. If I 
am not at home tell my mfe who you are; tell her you are 
my friend and that you belong to the sun-burned sons of 
toil. Tell her to give you some hog jowl and turnip greens. 
She may be busy making soap, but that will be all right ; you 
will be properly cared for, and it will save you a hotel bill. 
The word 'Welcome' is written on the outside of the door for 
my friends." 



"The other day after the speaking a farmer mth a patch 
on the seat of his pants as big as the map of South America 
came to me and took me by the hand and said, Meff, you sure 
warmed up that gang in Little Rock ; I am for you until the 
rope breaks.' " 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 43 

''I knew that all the squirrel-headed editors in Arkansas 
were hued up against me, but they tell me that every httle 
old pill-roller in the county is against me, too." 



'*The other day a farmer asked me what Vandeventer did 
at Morrilton before he got into the Governor's race. I told 
him he was in the lumber business — that he just lumbered 
around town." 



''Bob Rogers, you threatened to kill me. I am not afraid 
of you. I can take a corncob with a lightning bug on the 
end of it and can run you into the river." 



"You remember I told you that if you would elect me Gov- 
ernor I would make the gang in Little Rock sit up and take 
notice. I told you that 1 w^ould turn Red River through the 
Statehouse. Unless things are changed and unless things 
are dammed up by the Gazette and Democrat, I am going 
to do so." 



One time Governor Davis was addressing about three thou- 
sand people at Pearson, in Cleburne County, and said: "If 
there is a man in this crowd that is going to vote for Vande- 
venter I \vish you would hold up your hand, for I want to 
see who you are." At this juncture Lawrence Shaner, a 
farmer, who lived near Pearson and w^ho now hves at Heber 
Springs, held up his hand and said, 'I am for Van,' and Gov- 
ernor Davis said, in a jocular way, "Don't you feel lone- 
some I Just one httle, measley fellow who is going to vote 
wrong." The Governor paid a high tribute to Uncle Jim 
Bettis, of Pearson, one of the Old Guard, who always got 
out on the firing line during the campaign for Governor. 
"Just look at Uncle Jim Bettis here, with his homespun 
clothes, mth his home-knit socks. These are my kind of 
folks — fellows that chew hill-side navy, smoke a cob pipe and 
sing in the choir." 



"When I licked that gang in Little Rock during the last 
campaign they went around on the streets with faces as long 
as a saddle blanket. The barbers in Little Rock would actu- 
ally charge them forty cents each for a shave, their faces 
were so long. Some of them call them Colonel, some of them 
call them Captain and some of them call them Judge. Judge 



44 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

of what, ladies and gentlemen! Judge of good-looking women 
and good whiskey? There's where the judge shines. The 
high-collared crowd haven't got sense enough to beat me for 
Governor, but they know whether it is Schlitz, Budweiser or 
Pabst." 



''When I was running for prosecuting attorney of my dis- 
trict I told the boys around Morrilton, Plumerville and Rus- 
sellville that if they would elect me their prosecuting attor- 
ney I would fill the penitentiary so full of negroes that their 
feet would be sticking out of the windows. If you will look 
up my record you will see that I made good in this respect. 
I now ask you to elect me Governor. It has been the dream 
of my fife. It has been the heart-throb of a lifetime, and I 
promise you here and now that I will run the pardon mill 
fair and impartial, and none but my friends need come around 
me begging for pardons." 



''Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but I want to apologize 
to you for lying to you. The last time I spoke here I Ued to 
you. I now want to apologize. You remember I told you we 
had a million-dollar Statehouse steal on our hands. I lied 
about this ; it was a million and a half. ' ' 



"I have been so busy the past three weeks fighting these 
Yankees" (meaning his opponents) "that I haven't had time 
to kiss my wife." 



"Ah, gentlemen, I see in this audience many battle-worn, 
gray-headed veterans who have passed through the Civil 
War. Many of you are fast finishing up the shady side of a 
long, successful career. When I see you I always want to 
take off my hat to you. I always want to do honor to you, 
especially when I see you with an empty sleeve and an empty 
boot leg." 



Governor Davis opened his campaign for United States 
Senator at Conway, July 4, 1905. People came from far and 
near to hear his opening speech, which had been extensively 
advertised. Jo Frauenthal, one of the Old Guard at that time, 
was chairman of the reception committee. Among other 
things. Governor Davis said: "Ladies and gentlemen, ex- 
cuse me, I want to refer to one of your most distinguished 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 45 

citizens. I want to refer to a man who has stood lone-handed 
and fought the biggest gang of grafters and thieves that ever 
invaded our State. He has saved the taxpayers of Arkansas 
hundreds and thousands of dollars. I refer you to honest 
George Donaghey, of your own city." Governor Donaghey 
was unusually popular at Conway and contributed a great 
deal to the barbecue. The citizenship of Faulkner County 
appreciated the remarks made by Governor Davis regarding 
Mr. Donaghey. 



CHAPTER IV 

JEFF DAVIS'S FIRST SPEECH FOR GOVERNOR. 

I. 

His Center Point Speech. 

• Jeff Davis's first speech in his campaign for the nomina- 
tion for Governor, against John G. Fletcher of Little Rock, 
Edgar E. Bryant of Fort Smith and A. F. Vandeventer of 
Morrilton was delivered at Center Point, February 12, 1900, 
as follows: 
Mr. Chairman, Gentlemen and Fellow-Citizens of Howard 

County : 

I have never had the pleasure of speaking to an audience 
in Howard County before in my life. This is my first appear- 
ance in the good County of How^ard. In my race for Attor- 
ney General, my physical strength would not permit me to 
come here. I was paralyzed in my left side and arm. I 
made only one real speech in that race. I made it at Eureka 
Springs sitting down in a chair most of the time. I sent it 
as a message to the great throbbing heart of Democracy in 
Arkansas, asking for their support, and the good County of 
Howard, receiving that message, responded to it most nobly 
and gave me this county. And I sincerely thank you for it 
today. 

This is the first meeting, gentlemen, in a joint discussion, 
and I was glad that the battle ground was selected in the good 
County of Howard, because just across your borders in that 
territory w^hich originally comprised the counties of Little 
River and Sevier, I first saw the light of day. Under the 
whispering pines of old Brownstown lies buried my old grand- 
father, and I was glad when they pitched the battle ground 
here. And, if the boys of the valley will but touch hands 
with the boys of the hills, the people of Arkansas will have 
gained one of the greatest victories that has been achieved in 
this State in a quarter of a century. Every word that I say, 
gentlemen, is misconstrued by the metropolitan press of this 
State. I brought a stenographer here at my own expense 
that he might take down every word that I say in this discus- 
sion, that no misconstruction may be put upon it. 

Gentlemen, in this contest I am unequally pitted. Against 
me is pitted the silver-tongued orator, Judge Edgar E. Bry- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS M 

ant, of Fort Smith, who has made you a most beautiful speech 
this morning, but it was a prepared effort. Did you not see 
him lay it before him when he began to speak? On the other 
hand, \ am pitted against the distinguished gentleman from 
Pulaski, the strong, solid stage-horse of the business interests 
of Arkansas, Col. John G. Fletcher. On the other hand, the 
candidacy of Mr. Vandeventer; and the effect of his candi- 
dacy, if I should allow it, would be to engage me in a discus- 
sion of personalities while Judge Bryant and Colonel 
Fletcher run for Governor. That shall not be done. I am 
going to watch the guns. 

I have been your Attorney General one year. Since the 
17th day of January last a year ago, I have had the honor to 
be your Attorney General. Never in the history of public 
offices in Arkansas has such an unjust, merciless, cruel, unnec- 
essary war been waged against any official in Arkansas as 
has been made against me by the metropolitan press of the 
city of Little Rock. Why has that war been made, gentlemen? 

There is always a reason for everything. There is no 
fact in this world of ours but that if you look behind it you 
will find the cause. Go to Nature — go anywhere, wherever 
you see an effect, look back of it and you will find the cause. 
I am going to give you the cause here today. 

I readily join hands with my brethren when they say no 
personalities shall be indulged in in this canvass. Ah, gen- 
tlemen, before I would do that I would quit this race. But 
my public record as prosecuting attorney of my district and 
the public record which I have made as Attorney General of 
your State is subject to criticism. The public record which 
Judge Bryant made as circuit judge or any other public 
capacity is subject to criticism. The public record which my 
distins-uished friend, Col. John G. Fletcher, has made for 
himself in the great State of Arkansas is subject to criticism. 
In fact, gentlemen and fellow-citizens, the only way to purify 
the -political atmosphere is by just criticism. Is that not 
true? As lightning purifies the elements so just criticism 
purifies the political horizon. 

The charge has been made against me by the press of the 
State that I have neglected my duties, traipsing around over 
the State asking for another office before I had performed 
the duties of the one to which you have elected me. If that 
charge is true, then you ought not to vote for me for another 
position. Is not that a fair statement? Is that true? Let 



48 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

the books be opened ; let the record be unfolded ; let the facts 
speak and you be the judge. 

You all know that it is my duty as Attorney General to 
represent the criminal appeals in the Supreme Court of this 
State, just as it is the duty of the prosecuting attorney to 
represent the criminal cases in this court. I state to you 
that the Supreme Court of this State has never been called 
upon to continue a single case upon that docket at the in- 
stance of the State. 

Not only that, gentlemen, but since I have been in office, 
and at the time the charge was made by the press of the 
State, I have served the State as Attorney General for thirty- 
two weeks. During these thirty-two weeks I prepared thirty- 
four briefs on criminal cases for the Supreme Court. These 
briefs averaged from twenty to one hundred pages each of 
printed matter. I submit to any la^^^er in this audience if 
that is not some work. Not only that, but I have written on 
an average of twenty business letters per day, answering 
every proposition that has been submitted to me iDy anybody, 
justices of the peace, school directors, road overseers, county 
officials and everybody else. It has been the custom of this 
office, I am told, up to this time to submit these questions to 
the Prosecuting Attorney of the various districts, but I 
endeavored to answer them all as intelligently as I could. 
And anybody knows that road overseers and school directors 
can ask questions that mil take a Philadelphia lawyer a week 
to look up. 

Not only that, gentlemen, but in that thirty-two weeks I 
have prepared and submitted forty written opinions on im- 
portant questions, all of which require more or less investiga- 
tion. Now, to that just for a minute, and I will stop that 
part of the discussion. I was asked by Mr. Wilson, Assessor 
of Clark County, whether or not the paid-up cash surrender 
value of life insurance policies were taxable. You know the 
Collins Bill, taxing this character of property, was presented 
and defeated. The question that Mr. Wilson asked me, as 
chief law officer of this State, was, "Is the cash surrender 
value of life insurance policies taxable under the Constitu- 
tion and laws as they exist now?" I instructed him that 
they were. For instance, I have a $10,000 policy upon my 
life. I have carried it ten years. I could surrender it tomor- 
row to Mr. Remmel and get a given amount of cash for it. 
If that is true, and it is true, then, when I come to list my 
property, I should give that amount in for taxes. Ever since 



% 




JAMES SURRIDGE. 
Of Walnut Ridge, Who Was a Personal Friend of the Senator. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 49 

the rendering of that opinion every life insurance agent in 
Arkansas is in the saddle actively against me. 

Not only that, but Scipio A. Jones, a ''nigger" lawyer in 
Little Rock, an insignificant personage, submitted to me and 
to my office a very important question, and that was this: 
''How much shall county convicts confined upon the county 
farm to work out their fine and costs be allowed upon their 
fine and costs for each day that they labor?" I do not know 
what your practice is, but with us it is this way: A man is 
tried for carrying a pistol here. He is fined fifty dollars. 
The sheriff's and clerk's costs are about ten dollars. The 
Prosecuting Attorney's is ten dollars more. This makes sev- 
enty dollars. If he can not pay it he has to go to the county 
farm and work it out. 

Up to the time of rendering this opinion, the practice had 
prevailed all down the Mississippi river and in Pope County 
on the Arkansas river, to allow him fifty cents a day. If 
he was sick and did not work, he was charged fifty cents for 
his board; if it was a rainy day and he could not work, he 
was charged fifty cents per day for his board ; if it was Sun- 
day and he could not work, he was charged fifty cents a day 
for his board. So, gentlemen, an unfortunate man was abso- 
lutely working into the county farm instead of working out. 

I instructed Scipio A. Jones, a *'niggrer" lawyer, that, in 
my judgment, every convict that was confined upon the county 
farm to work out his fine and costs should be allowed under 
the law seventy -five cents per day for the time he was con- 
fined, whether he labored or not. That revolutionized the 
county farm in Arkansas. Men were turned out of the farm. 
They had been kept over time. One of them sued at Pine 
Bluff for being worked overtime, and Judge Tony Grace of 
Pine Bluff sustained that construction of the law. It is now 
upon appeal in the Supreme Court of Arkansas, and briefs 
of myself and opposing counsel have been filed. What that 
court will decide I do not know. 

But I believe that the law ought to be administered in 
mercy. It is not the severity but the certainty of punishment 
that deters men from committing crime. These are a few of 
the things that I have done. I have not the time to tell you 
about it all : it would take me a week. 



50 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

n. 

The Anti-Trust Law. 

Last, but not least, my construction of the Anti-Trust Law. 
That has brought on this whole fight. I intended, ladies and 
gentlemen, if I ever told the truth in my life, when my two 
years' term of office as Attorney General expired, to go back 
to my home and family. I had rather be in the bosom of my 
family and surrounded by my wife and children and my 
friends, with my little law practice, small as it is, in the good 
little town of Russellville, than to have any office in the gift 
of the people. That is the truth, if I ever told it. Notwith- 
standing the fact that the Legislature, at my request, in- 
creased the salary of the Attorney General's office from 
$1,500 to $2,500; not^vithstanding the fact that possibly I 
might have had that office again without opposition (at least 
I flatter myself so), I had told the people at Eureka Springs 
in that speech that I would not again be a candidate and I 
stuck to my word. Remember, gentlemen, that the increase 
in salary does not go to me, as these papers state, but to my 
successor in office. I state that in the presence of any lawyer. 
The papers say that the Legislature gave me $1,000 more to 
run for Governor on. Ah, they know that is not true. Let's 
see the facts. The meanest criminal in the courts of the coun- 
try is entitled to a hearing, is he not? All I ask is for a 
hearing before the bar of Justice. 

Gentlemen, my construction of the Anti-Trust Law brought 
on this whole fight. What is that? Can you understand it? 
I will try to make it just as plain to you as I possibly can. I 
want to say to you, gentlemen, that the Legislature which 
assembled in Little Rock was one of the bravest bodies of 
men that has ever assembled in that city, according to my 
judgment. Out of that whole body, there was not a braver 
man, or a man who stood more faithfully by me in the dis- 
charge of my duties, than the good representative from the 
good county of Howard. That man deserves that compli- 
ment. I give it to him freely and cheerfully. 

Ah, gentlemen, what is my construction of that law which 
has brought on tliis whole fight? Let's see what it is. The 
lawyer that can present his case the plainest, the minister 
that can present his sermon the plainest, is the best lawyer 
and the best minister, is he not? 

Let's see what is my construction. The Legislature passed 
this law. I hold it in my hand. It is the best law that has 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF^DAVIS 51 

been passed in Arkansas in a quarter of a century if it could 
be executed. 

What is it? It says, ''Mr. Corporation, if you are a mem- 
ber of ANY, a-n-y pool or trust you can not do business in 
Arkansas." All, but the newspapers say that I am wrong. 

What are these newspapers! What is the Arkansas 
Gazette and the Arkansas Democrat? The Arkansas Gazette 
is supposed to be the leading Democratic organ in this (State. 
Who owns it! Who controls it1 John R. Dos Passes, a great 
lawyer in the city of New York owns a large interest. John 
R. Dos Passes owns for himself or his clients all the Holford 
bonds that were foisted upon the people of Arkansas by the 
Carpet Bag administration from 1868 to 1874. A man by 
the name of Smithee was employed as editor, and the first 
editorial which appeared in that paper after his employment 
was an editorial looking to the redemption of those bonds. 
I state in your presence as a lawyer, and in the presence of 
this court, that all that is necessary in order to redeem these 
bonds is to get a two-thirds majority of both houses of the 
Legislature to say so. Go and look at your Constitution. 
Who is the editor of that paper now? One Richard Brug- 
man — Dick, we call him in Little Rock — the meanest, most 
contemptible little Republican in Arkansas, who just a few 
years ago was the president of a ''nigger" club in Little 
Rock. 1 stood their vituperation 'and abuse until it was 
unbearable. I had no idea of entering into this race, but 
finally this proposition w^as made: "We will make his name 
infamous in Arkansas." "Infamous" in the State where I 
was born, where my children were born, where I was married 
and received my education, and hope to be buried when I die. 
I took that paper home and showed it to my wiie, as good 
and brave a little Southern woman as God ever gave to any 
man, and asked her w^hat I should do. She said: "Not- 
withstanding the fact that w^e are poor, not\^dth standing the 
fact that we had little when we were married, notwithstand- 
ing the fact that we have little now, yet, if it takes everything 
that we have, even the little home over our heads, and we 
have to walk out into the street, and begin life over again, go 
before the people of the State and give the reason for the 
faith that is in you." And that is the reason why I am here 
today. 

Ah, gentlemen, the war is on. Not a battle between my 
opponents and me — they are gentlemen — but the war is on. 
It is knife to knife, hilt to hilt, foot to foot, knee to knee. 



52 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF^DAYIS 

between tlie corporations of Arkansas and the people. The 
Helena World says that I am a carrot-haired, red-laced, loud- 
mouthed, strong-hmbed, ox-driving mountaineer lawyer that 
has come to Little iiock to get a reputation; that 1 am a 
friend to the fellow that brews forty-rod bug-juice back in the 
mountains, and all that sort of stuff. I have a httle boy, 
God bless him, a httle pale-faced, white-haired fellow. I love 
him better than anybody on earth except his mother. If I 
find that boy is a smart boy. Judge Bryant, I will go and 
make a preacher out of him; if I find he is not so smart a 
boy, 1 am going to make a lawyer out of him, and if I find 
that he has not a bit of sense upon earth I am going to make 
an editor out of him and send him to Little Rock to edit the 
Arkansas Democrat. A lot of squirrel-headed newspaper 
editors who could not buy five cents worth of beef steak in 
the town where they five, try to tell the people how to vote. 
Shall it be done or not I Let the books be opened. 

You will not see a word said in the metropohtan press of 
Little Rock against my distinguished friend, Colonel Fletcher; 
you will not see a word said against Mr. Vandeventer; you 
will not see a word said against my distinguished friend, 
Judge Bryant; it is all against me the fight is being made. 
"I am up against the real thing now." 

What is the matter with my construction of this law? Let 
us answer it: ''Mr. Corporation" (here is the law), ''get 
your acts of 1899 and read them." "If you are a member 
of any pool or trust you can't do business in Arkansas." 
' ' Any pool or trust. ' ' What do you mean by that ? It means 
what it says; just what any plain man would understand it 
to mean. What does "any" mean? The United States 
Supreme Court has said in the case of Paul vs. Virginia, 8 
Wallace, U. S. Sup. Ct. Rep., that the Legislature has power 
to say that a foreign corporation can't do business in the 
State at all; that the consent of the Legislature must be 
obtained before a foreign corporation can do business here 
at all. If they have the power to say that, the only question 
that remains is, did they say it by this act ? Therefore, there 
is where the bravery of the Legislature comes in. 

What does it say? "If you are a member of any pool or 
trust you can't do business in Arkansas." There are two 
elements — "being a member of any pool or trust" and "doing 
business in Arkansas." I submit this to the la^vyers. "Be- 
ing a member of a pool or trust" and "doing business in 
Arkansas" are the constituent elements of the offense. I 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 53 

can illustrate it iu a minute. Suppose this little town of 
Center Point is an incorporated town, and you hear that a 
man with smallpox is coming into your town. What do you 
do If The officers meet him at your city border and say to 
him, "As long as you have the smallpox you can't come into 
Center Point." ^ou have that power; you have no other 
power than that. You can not say to him, "You can not go 
to Nashville or can not go over to Lockesburg," but you can 
say to him, "You can not come into Center Point as long as 
you have the smallpox." There is no extra-territorial ettect 
in this law. What is the result"? You keep him out. You 
say to him, "The very minute you get well of smallpox you 
can come here." We can not keep you from going to these 
other places. Whenever you get well of smallpox you can 
come here as much as you please, but as long as you have 
the smallpox you can not come here. ' ' 

Ah, gentlemen and fellow-citizens, these trusts are 
affected with a much more loathsome disease and more dan- 
gerous to the body politic than smallpox is to the human 
body. 

I construed this law. I said, "If you are a member of any 
pool or trust anywhere on earth you can not come into Ark- 
ansas and do business." That is the remedy. What was 
the result? Ah, the trust agents went to see their lawyer. 
Judge U. M. Rose, the best lawyer in Arkansas. They took 
that opinion to Judge Rose. What does he say? Here it is; 
let the books be opened; let the record be unfolded. 

Mr. L. B. Leigh, who is probably one of the best known 
life insurance men in the South, was called on for an expla- 
nation as to the effect of the bill. He spoke briefly and to 
the point, saying among other things: "I first wish to cor- 
rect an error in the Gazette of today in reference to yester- 
day's remarks by me in this hall. I was referred to as con- 
nected with the Board of Underwriters. No such an organi- 
zation now exists here. When the Anti-Trust Law went into 
effect it was disbanded. ' ' 

Mr. Leigh told of a visit Mr. John Boyle and himself paid 
to the Auditor and asked him the meaning of the word "any" 
in the bill just passed, whether it meant that any company 
could do business in Arkansas belonging to a pool, etc., in 
Arkansas or whether it prevented them from doing business 
in Arkansas if they belonged to any association outside of 
the State. 



54 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

' ' It was his impression that the law related only to Arkan- 
sas, ' ' said Mr. Leigh. ' ' Then they went on about their busi- 
ness, but have been brought up with a round turn by the 
Attorney General, who holds that the law prohibits compa- 
nies doing business in Arkansas who are in 'associations' 
anywhere. We have called on him, and he has restated his 
opinion; the language is plain, but he tells us that the Legis- 
lature is still here and if it deems best it can amend the law. 
He even says in his opinion the companies are now doing 
business in violation of this law, and doing so at their peril; 
that they have been in peril since the 7th of March. We 
have sought counsel as to the meaning of the bill, and our 
advice has been that the opinion of the Attorney General 
would be sustained and it could not be successfully resisted. 
If I have not stated the name of our adviser I will do so 
now — Judge U. M. Rose." 

All my competitors tell me, and I am glad they take sides 
with this decision as the court renders it. Judge U. M. Rose 
said that I was right. Up to that time the corporations paid 
no attention to the red-faced, carrot-haired, loud-mouthed, 
deep-lunged, strong-limbed, ox-driving mountaineer lawyer. 
But what was the result"? Something ought to be done. They 
called a big business men's meeting in Little Rock. About 
five thousand men met at Glenwood Park in the city of Little 
Rock prior to that decision. My distinguished friend. Col. 
John G. Fletcher, was a delegate to that convention. What 
must be done? Something must be done. They met. That 
convention w^as composed largely of goldbugs, insurance 
agents and Republicans. They cussed and discussed the Leg- 
islature that passed this law, but they quickly folded their 
tents like the Arab and sneaked away in the morning. 

The Legislature stood firm; the Legislature stood by me. 
The Legislature appropriated $5,000 to help me carry into 
effect this construction. Ah, gentlemen. Judge Bryant says 
I only sued the fire insurance companies. I know that he 
does not intend to misrepresent the facts. I sued the Stand- 
ard Oil Company, I sued the American Tobacco Company, I 
sued the Continental Tobacco Company, I sued the Cotton 
Seed Oil Trust, I sued the express companies, I sued every- 
thing that looked like a trust. I sued them all. I know one 
thing, as an officer, you must stand upon the broad, high 
plane of the law. As long as an officer stands upon that high 
plane he is safe and secure. The turbid waters of public 
sentiment may break around his feet, but as long as he stands 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 55 

upon that broad high plane of the law he is safe and secure. 

Public sentiment is the most fickle thing on earth. Today 
she fondles and caresses; tomorrow she scorns and scoffs. 
But I am a sort of hard-shelled Baptist in my faith. I believe 
in foot-washing, I believe in baptism by immersion, and be- 
lieve in using the straight edge. What is the '' straight 
edge" in physical conduct! The law. I sued them all. This 
business men's meeting met. That wasn't enough. They 
must have public sentiment manufactured. They had a mock 
trial out there at Glenwood Park. The Federal judge pre- 
sided. Mr. Blackwood, of the firm of Blackwood & Williams, 
represented one side. Mr. Fay Hempstead, one of the most 
noted men in Arkansas, represented the other side. Some 
of the jndges were there, I am told. All the elite of the city 
were there. What was it? Public sentiment must be manu- 
factured. What was the result? Why, the law was crucified 
at the very foot of the Temple of Justice and its mangled 
corpse was left dead and helpless. 

I said, ''If you come into the State as a trust you shall not 
do business here." Ah, gentlemen, the proudest day of my 
life was in St. Louis on the 20th day of September, at the 
great Anti-Trust conference. Twelve Governors and twelve 
Attorneys General of the South and West were present. The 
following resolution, prepared by me, was adopted. Gover- 
nor McMillan of Tennessee was chairman of the committee 
on resolutions. Twelve Governors and twelve Attorneys 
General adopted this resolution as one of the best to extermi- 
nate the trusts. Here is the resolution written upon the 
paper of the Planter's Hotel. What does it sayf 

''Eecognizing that a tmst is composed of corporations, and 
that they are creatures of the law, can only exist in the place 
of their creation and can not migrate to another soverei.gnty 
without the consent of that sovereignty, and that this consent 
may be withheld, we recommend that it is the sense of this 
conference that each State pass laws providing that no cor- 
poration which is a member of any pool or trust in that State 
or elsewhere can do business in that State." 

That is a perfect defense of my own record. I paid my 
own expenses to that Anti-Trust conference and to the Anti- 
Trust conference at Chicago to help carry on the fight. I 
have felt the fire; I have stood in the breach; I am not gun 
shy. They know I am not. 

I make no reflection upon my distinguished opponents. 
They may be just as honest as I am and just as sincere. But 



I 



56 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

their election, mark my words, will be counted as a victory 
by the corporations of Arkansas. 

Why? Conceding that they are honest and conscientious, 
conceding that they want to do what is right about trusts, 
the fight is being made upon me, not by them ; that would be 
too plain; the people could see it; but by the corporations, 
and their election means victory for the corporations. I do 
not impugn their motives. Do you understand me? Look 
and see if anything is said about them by the metropolitan 
papers of this State. Oh, no. 

Now, do you understand that Anti-Trust Law? My con- 
struction was to shut off their field of operation; shut it off; 
don't let them come here. They organize in New Jersey, not 
for the purpose of doing business there, but to come here in 
the South and West. Whenever you shut off their field of 
operations, that minute you kill the trusts, destroy their field 
of operations. That's what I want to do; that's what the 
Anti-Trust conference in St. Louis was in favor of. 

You can not dally with this matter; you can not tempor- 
ize; you must destroy. Are you in earnest about it? Do 
you mean it? The Democratic Party in its platform has 
always said, "We are against trusts, we are fighting them." 
Are you in earnest about it? Do you mean it? Or is it just 
in the play? My brother there (pointing to a lawyer in the 
audience) and myself may have almost fought in the court 
room ; but if you will follow us to the back door you mil see 
us doing something that enemies do not always do. That is 
all in the play, you know. Are you in earnest about this 
thing? If you are, cut off their field of operations; tell them 
they shall not come into our borders. That is what the law 
meant before the court construed it away. 

Ah, gentlemen, I don 't abuse anybody ; I have never abused 
anybody. A paper published at Camden, Judge Bunn's own 
home, the Ouachita Herald, says this: ''In the first genuine 
tilt between the people and the trusts in this State the people 
have been defeated, and that, too, through a tribunal estab- 
lished for their own protection. This is not said in any 
offensive sense, nor to imply that the members of the court 
are corruptly in league with the trusts. They are a pure 
and honorable body of men and would not wilfully do wrong, 
but they, like others, are creatures of environment and no 
one can read the decision critically and impartially without 
being impressed with the idea that the act, in their judgment, 
was about to do a great and irreparable wrong to the business 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 57 

interests of the State, and that it would not be right, there- 
fore, to explain it away by giving it a meaning other than 
that contended for by Attorney General Davis. JPublic senti- 
ment to create this impression was manufactured for the 
occasion, and the result is before us in this decision." They 
are the creatures of environment. I have never said that 
the court was corrupt ; I never said that they could be bought 
or bribed; every man is a creature of environment. If you 
tell me what a man's circumstances and what a man's sur- 
roundings are, I will tell you what his conduct will be. The 
Democrat howled trusts at them from night till morning and 
the Gazette from night to morning. 

They were met upon the street by trust agents; they 
breathed an atmosphere of trusts. The farmers were not 
there to meet them, shake hands with them and let their 
interests be known. They are the creatures of environment. 
This public sentiment was manufactured. They fell into its 
wake. I have said everywhere, and I say it here, that we 
need a Supreme Court, and need it awful bad, and I hope the 
people in the coming election will defeat every one of these 
gentlemen that asks for their support. Why do I say that? 
I have the greatest respect for the honest, upright, noble and 
conscientious judge, who holds the scales of justice in equal 
poise and does not permit extraneous matter to be cast into 
the scales with or against either party. But the judge, like 
old Shiras, who took a somersault at night on the income tax 
case, and reversed himself in the morning ought to be held 
up to the severest condemnation of every liberty-loving, 
patriotic citizen. 

Didn't Abraham Lincoln, back in 1857, criticise the 
Supreme Court of the United States for their Dred-Scott 
decision? He criticised the Supreme Court in language much 
more severe than I could possibly use. Is there anything 
wrong in this? 

Wasn't Lincoln a patriot? Next to Jeff Davis, he was 
one of the greatest men this country ever produced. In his 
last message to Congress he said: ''I see in the near future 
a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to trem- 
ble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, 
corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption 
in high places will follow and the money power of the coun- 
try will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the 
prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few 
hands and the republic is destroyed. I feel at this moment 



58 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



more anxiety for the safety of the country than ever before, 
even in the midst of civil war. ' ' 

Is not that prophecy becoming fulfilled? Take the lan- 
guage of the Hon. Justice Harlan in the income tax case. 
Does he not criticise his own bench much more severely than 
I could possibly do? 

Ah, gentlemen, I said to the court in arguing this case, in 
the presence of five hundred insurance agents, that if we 
ever have another civil war it would be brought about by 
judge-made law. What do I mean by that! I consider that 
it is the duty of the court in construing an act to get the leg- 
islative intent out of the statute, not to inject the judicial 
intent into it. Is not that the rule, my brother f 

What does H. C. Caldwell, the greatest judge of the Fed- 
eral bench today, say? "The modern writ of injunction is 
used for purposes which bear no more resemblance to the 
ancient w^rit of that name than the milky way bears to the 
sun. Formerly it was used to conserve the property in dis- 
pute between private litigants, but in modern times it has 
taken the place of the police powers of the State and Nation. 
It enforces and restrains mtli equal facility the criminal laws 
of the State and Nation. With it the judge not only restrains 
and punishes the commission of crimes defined by statutes, 
but he proceeds to frame a criminal code of his own as 
extended as he sees proper, by which various acts innocent 
in law and morals are made criminal, such as standing, walk- 
ing or marching on the public highway, or talking, speaking 
or preaching and other like acts. In proceedings for con- 
tempt for alleged violation of the injunction, the judge is the 
law-maker, the injured party, the prosecutor, the judge and 
jury. It is not surprising that, uniting in himself all these 
characters, he is commonly able to obtain a conviction." 

If I had said this I would have been denounced by every 
paper in Arkansas as an anarchist. What does he say fur- 
ther? He said this: "The people are always singularly 
patient of abuses in the administration of the law. This is 
due to their confidence and respect for the judicial office. 
But when that confidence is shaken by abuses open and 
obvious to their comprehension, they will put an end to them 
by the exercise of their own true and imperial sovereign 
power. ' ' 

What does that mean? It means revolution. Ah, I trem- 
ble for the safety of my country. The Legislature may pass 
laws, but the courts can construe them away if they are not 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 59 

held accountable at the bar of public justice. The court 
decided against me. I appealed from that decision to the 
people ; I want to empanel you here as a jury to try the issues 
involved in this controversy. I wall submit to your own cir- 
cuit judge, who sits upon that bench, if my construction of 
that law was not right. That's the remedy for trusts; shut 
them out ; don 't let them come here ; don 't let them come into 
your borders. 

But my distinguished friend, Judge Bryant, gave you no 
remedy. He is a pretty word painter. Ah, I am not here to 
talk about the Philippines or expansion; I am not here to 
paint words. I am here for the purpose of letting the people 
know the situation. I said everywhere, and I say it here 
now, that the farmers are the bravest class of men upon the 
face of the earth. Why do I say that? The men who 
marched up the bloody heights of El Caney, or who stormed 
the forts of Manila were not braver than the farmers and 
laborers. Why? 

The farmers toil day in and out trying to support them- 
selves and families as God Almighty has commanded them, 
in the sweat of their faces, but if they were to sit down at 
night and figure up what they are going to make they would 
quit the next morning, and you know it. The fellow at the 
other end of the line is controlling prices. Are you going to 
dally with it; are you in earnest about this matter? Then, 
shut them out; don't let them come here. 

Arkansas started this strong agitation; Texas has taken it 
up; the South and West has taken it up. That's my remedy. 
That was the law^ before the court construed it away. Ah, 
my friend. Judge Bryant, makes the decision mighty nice. 
It is easily covered up, but I want to take the kernel out and 
show it to you, and I have done this. Suppose you could 
divide this great country into two classes; on one side you 
put the wealth-producing element, on that side the wealth- 
consuming element. '\^niich side would be the biggest? You 
know that the wealth-producing side would be. Who makes 
the laws largely? The wealth-consumers and not the wealth- 
producers. Who executes the laws largely? The wealth-con- 
sumers. Who construes the laws largely? The wealth-con- 
sumers. Now, if you expect the wealth-consumers of this 
country to make, execute and construe the laws with that 
even and exact justice you are mighty badly mistaken. As 
Bill Arp says, *' Human nater is the same the world over." 
I will tell you there is a good deal in that old man's prayer: 



60 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



''God bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us 
four and no more; amen." 

You have come to the parting of the ways; you have come 
to the dividing line. My opponents might do just as well as 
I. I have no doubt they might be just as good; but I have 
been tried; they have not. It is a question of principle and 
not of a man; they are making no fight upon my opponents, 
they are making the fight upon me. Read the newspapers; 
they tell the tale. Now, gentlemen, that's the Anti-Trust 
Law. Is it a good law or a bad one? 

If I had wanted to take what apparently seemed to be the 
popular side at that time, wouldn 't I have gone with the busi- 
ness men, where my distinguished friend. Col. John G. 
Fletcher, was? If I had wanted money out of it, as the 
newspapers seem to think I want out of the Governor's office, 
couldn't I have just held my hand behind me and got all I 
wanted? Then, ladies and gentlemen, at least give me credit 
for being honest. I have stood by the guns. I have gone 
through the fiery furnace, my opponents have not. There is 
no chance for trusts with me in this office. There might be 
with my opponents. 

The fight is on. Howard County holds first. If I lose 
Howard it will be heralded all over the State that the people 
have repudiated this doctrine. I have no money to hire 
newspapers. I mortgaged my office at Russellville two weeks 
ago to get money to make this canvass. 

I have nothing to say against these distinguished gentle- 
men. Mr. Vandeventer will tell you that I have a carpet on 
the floor of my office. Every State official has that. He vnW 
tell you that I have a bed in my office. That I pay for myself. 
He will say that I have a comb and brush that cost $2.50. 
That's all right. He will tell you that my office is a palace. 
The Legislature gave me $45 to fit up that office. It was torn 
down and had an old dirty carpet on the floor. I had it repa- 
pered and the casings repainted. Out of my continsrent fund 
I bought a new carpet and put it upon the ifloor. That's the 
property of the State. Isn't that awful? 

ni 

His Opponents and State Issues. 

I will give you his record. He talks fluently as a free silver 
man, but when Wm. J. Bryan was invited to address the Leg- 
islature he was Speaker and appointed a committee to solicit 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 61 

funds to defray Mr. Bryan's expenses while attending to 
address that body. Mr. Charles Parker of Stephens, Ark., 
was on that committee. Each member of the Legislature 
assessed himself one dollar to pay these expenses. When 
Mr. Parker asked Mr, Vandeventer, the Speaker, for a dollar 
he said: ''Damn that Bryan committee," and refused to 
pay anything at that time. This kicked up such a big row 
that he afterwards paid the dollar. He said at Clarksville 
that any one who said that he (Vandeventer) had said 
''Damn the Bryan committee" lied. He said at Hope that 
he did not say this at Clarksville. I hold in my hands the 
affidavit of Charles Parker that he did say "Damn the Bryan 
committee." I hold in my hands the written statement of 
the clerk of the court at Clarksville that he said there that 
whoever said that was a liar. I hold in my hands a letter 
from Mr. Vandeventer to Mr. Parker that he did not say this 
at Clarksville. Now, gentlemen, taking these facts as his 
record, who would pay any attention to anything that he 
would say? 

Mr. Vandeventer will also tell you that I have not attended 
the Penitentiary Board meetings. They have been held in 
the private office of Governor Jones. Governor Jones does 
not speak to me. I told Mr. Sloan, the president, that as 
long as they met in Governor Jones's private office I would 
not be with them. When I fight a man upon principles I 
want to fight him beside the clear waters, under the blue sky, 
in open, noble combat. I don't want to get shot in the back. 
If I die I want to die with my face to the rising sun, with 
my wdndows open towards Jerusalem. As long as they hold 
meetings there I will not be present. The law does not 
require them to hold meetings there. 

He will tell you that I don't attend the Old Confederate 
Soldier Board. The old Confederate soldier fund is in this 
State, say $60,000, for illustration. You can not make it any 
more or less. You have to furnish proof before the clerk of 
your court as to how much you are worth and your disabili- 
ties. If you have less than $300 worth of property you can 
share in this fund. If you have more than that you can not 
share in it. So, you make proof before the clerk and send 
the papers to Little Rock. After that, it is a mere matter 
of mathematical calculation. I went in and asked Mr. Sloan, 
the president of the board, if my clerk could not attend to it, 
and he said that he could, and he did. That's all there is to it. 



62 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

I want to talk about the Bush Bill, a bill by which they 
propose to build a railway from Little Rock out into the zinc 
fields. That's a rich country and ought to have a railroad, 
but can you afford to pay the price? I hold this bill in my 
hands. I fought it in the Legislature. It is a measure by 
which they propose to build this road, and they are going to 
issue bonds for the purpose of taxing the people of Arkansas 
to build it. 

Ah, but the friends of this measure say that the State is 
not liable for the payment of these bonds. Take the Acts of 
1897 and look on page 96, at section 6, and see what it says : 
''The State board (the Auditor, Governor and Attorney Gen- 
eral) created by this act, and their successors forever, shall 
constitute a body corporate w^th full power to sue and be 
sued." Read section 7 of the act. It says: ''The State 
shall not be liable for any debt created by said board under 
the provisions of this act." If it stopped there there might 
be some sense to their contention. But it does not stop there. 
It says "but" — but what? It jerks you straight around in 
the road. "But all contracts of such corporation shall be 
forever inviolate." What does that mean? It means "for- 
ever incontestable." 

They are to issue these bonds to build this railroad. How 
are they going to equip the road? They have got to get the 
money. How get it? Issue bonds and get it. Who is going 
to pay the bonds ? Do you expect the board to pay them per- 
sonally? But the friends of the measure say that the State 
does not have to pay them. But, in the name of common 
sense, who does? Men who have money usually have sense. 
Under the bill, they could issue an unlimited amount, as it is 
discretionary with the board. I was the first man to speak 
upon the subject in my speech at Eureka Springs for Attor- 
ney General. 

The papers said that I was crazy; that the matter was 
dead. It is not true ; it like to have passed the last Legisla- 
ture in a more violent form. It lacked only one vote. They 
are going to build this road and issue bonds. Governor Jones 
told the Legislature that he was going to issue bonds payable 
in gold. He says now he didn't say that. Here is a tele- 
gram, which, if I had time to explain, would convince you 
that he did say so. Grover Cleveland was the only Demo- 
cratic leader who wanted to issue bonds except Jones. There 
is his telegram to Mr. Vandeventer. Mr. Vandeventer read 
this telegram once, but never read it again. I have a certified 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 63 

copy of the telegram with me. Mr. Vandeventer then went 
and got another written statement from the Governor, which 
he now reads. They are going to build the road and issue 
gold bonds, an unlimited amount of them. Is that rights 

I submit this to you as a lawyer: If I had ten acres of 
land out there and want to hire a "nigger" to clear it, and 
tell you. Judge Bryant, as my agent to hire a ''nigger," you 
tell him that you personally will not pay him, and you tell 
him that I, the owner and beneficiary of the contract, will not 
pay him. Do you think you could get a one-eyed "nigger" 
with half sense to do this workf But if you do, and he did 
it in a good and workman-like manner, would not I, the bene- 
ficiary of the contract, be held liable by any court or jury for 
the price of his labor! You know I would. So would the 
State, who got the benefit of the issuance of these bonds, be 
held liable tor their payment. The man who wrote this bill 
was writing for future generations, because the bonds could 
not be made payable except thirty years hence, when he 
hoped to find some court that did not know what "any pool 
or trust" meant, but who would know that the State was 
bound for the payment of these bonds. 

But they say that the roadbed shall be held responsible. 
Suppose bonds are issued in excess of the value of the road- 
bed and the roadbed when sold would not pay them. Who 
would have to pay the deficit! The State. How! By taxa- 
tion. 

How did they try to get an amendment to this bill passed 
by the last Legislature! A gentleman by the name of Festus 
Orestus Butt, member from Carroll County, was put in the 
chair. Look at section 7 of the original act. Butt in the 
chair and "but" in the act. The bill was tabled on a motion 
of Jim Head, of Little River County. All people who know 
anything about legislative matters know that the tabling of a 
bill means its death. Mr. Butt held that a two-thirds vote 
would take the bill ofi of the table. They tried to get that 
and failed. Mr. Herrn, a member from Sharp County, and 
the sharpest man in the House, got up and read Jefferson's 
Manual and said that only a majority vote was necessary to 
take the bill from the table, and he appealed from the decision 
of the chair. This meant that a bare majority could reverse 
the chair. To reverse the chair meant to take the bill off the 
table. 

Festus Orestus, Presto, Change ! Now you see it, and now 
you don't see it, like the shell game at a circus. But, thank 



64 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

God, they didn't get a majority and the bill was defeated. 
Then what was the result? Why the distinguished Senator 
from Baxter, the distinguished member from Sharp and Mr. 
Vandeventer were appointed commissioners to build a mil- 
lion dollar Statehouse in Little Rock for the State of Arkan- 
sas at a salary of $5 a day and mileage, but the Senate sat 
down upon those appointments. God bless the Senate. 

I say to you that the building of this Statehouse under the 
present plan is the biggest steal that was ever attempted to 
be perpetrated upon the people of Arkansas. Not that the 
commissioners are going to steal anything, but the plan is a 
steal. How? They are going to abandon this property 
where the old Statehouse is, and they are going to tear down 
the property at the penitentiary. They are doing it right 
now. That costs you six or seven hundred thousand dollars. 
They had fifty thousand dollars in the treasury that arose 
from the sale of forfeited lands. When that is exhausted, 
the Legislature will have to take care of it. Ah, gentlemen, 
what's the remedy? They are going to tear down this prop- 
erty. I say that when you quit the present Statehouse it will 
revert to the Ashley heirs. Judge Cockrill said that it would 
not, but I doubt his opinion. He might change his opinion 
like Judge Rose did on the trust question. Therefore, I don't 
care to follow him. They will also have to build a new peni- 
tentiary at an enormous cost to the taxpayers. When I say 
"they" I mean Governor Jones and Hon. Alex C. Hull. 

I did not start this row, but I am going to keep it up. They 
went out the other day on the Nineteenth Street Pike and 
bought fifteen acres of land upon which to build a new peni- 
tentiary. What did they give for it? Five thousand dollars. 
Fifteen acres of land ! That land is so poor that two drunken 
men could not raise a difficulty upon it. It is so poor you 
could not raise an umbrella upon it. It is so poor you have 
to manure it to make brick out of it. They paid for it with 
the State's money — $5,000. Is not this a nice mess? Ought 
I to show it to you? Will you, Judge Bryant and Colonel 
Fletcher, take sides upon that proposition? Why don't you 
do it before these people? 

Now, gentlemen, what's the result? You have that State- 
house upon your hands. I don't object so much to building 
a Statehouse if we were able to; I object to the plan. What 
is that? The commissioners; they are getting salaries, clerk 
hire and everything. Why don't they let the contract to the 
lowest bidder and take a bond for its faithful performance? 




SENATOR JAMES P. CLARKE. 

Jeff Davis's Colleague in the United States Senate, and One of the 
State's Most Prominent Figures During the Last 20 Years. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 65 

Let the contractor build it at the lowest price, if you must 
have it. I think it best for the State to lose that $50,000 for 
the present, at least, until we get able. The people are not 
able to have their taxes increased. You paid last year $4.75 
on the thousand. You will pay this year $5.50 on the thou- 
sand. An increase, and yet they want to build a Statehouse 
and still further burden the people. Little Kock is interested 
in a crop of taxes — the bigger the crop the better. 

I am not trying to array the country against Little Rock. 
There are many noble men and women living there; lots of 
them. God bless them. But there is a gang down there that 
needs cleaning out, and needs it awful bad. I would give 
ten years of my life in jail, if it were possible, to be Governor 
of the State of Arkansas two years to clean out some of the 
things down there; I will clean that gang so clean, if I am 
elected, that it will look like the Red River had run through 
it, and that's why they are after me. 

What about my opponents? I have nothing to say about 
them. I have always been a Democrat. You can not make 
anything but a Democrat out of me. My distinguished oppo- 
nent. Colonel Fletcher, says he is a good Democrat. Here is 
his speech delivered to the AVheelers in 1886, where he said: 
"Thank God, I was not born a Democrat." Li 1884 he had 
just been defeated in a Democratic convention by Simon P. 
Hughes. In 1886 he was nominated by the Wheelers. He 
said to them, "Thank God, I was not born a Democrat." He 
said, "Politics makes strange bed-fellows." And it does. 
There's the situation. He said many noble things to the 
farmers in that speech that day, but actually he reneged on 
them the next day. This shows he is not a steadfast man. 
He said the next day, "I was mistaken, I am going back to 
the Democratic Party." You can whip me in this race, but 
I will be a better Democrat than I was before, and I \\dll 
work for the nominee. 

When the fight came up in 1886, the old ship of Democracy 
was in the toils. They could not have picked a stronger man 
than Colonel Fletcher to have manned the opposition, and 
they knew it. We were being assailed upon every side, our 
foes were firing upon us from every line. They picked one 
of the strongest men in the Democratic Party. We needed 
your help then, Colonel Fletcher. Ah, you deserted us then. 
You said, "Thank God, you was not born a Democrat." You 
may say in answer to this that you was born a Whig. I thank 
God that I was born a Democrat and I am a Democrat vet. I 



66 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

have never camped in the camp of the enemy, even for one 
night. I was a Presidential Elector in 1886. I was a Presi- 
dential Elector in 1896. I retired from the ticket to give a 
Popuhst my place in order to effect harmony. This was at 
the request of Senator Jones and Mr. Bryan. I never 
accepted a Popuhst nomination. There are lots of good men 
in the Populist Party. Why don't you stick to them? 

Ah, gentlemen, he says he is in favor of good roads. So 
am I. He says that he is in favor of an Arkansas Univer- 
sity; so am I. He says he is in favor of charitable institu- 
tions ; so am I. I am in favor of a just and equitable fellow- 
servant law; that there was an effort made to get me to con- 
strue the anti-trust law so as to embrace the laboring ele- 
ments of the country. I did not do it, because labor is not 
a '* thing" in the sense used in this act. I am for the protec- 
tion of the weak. Be just to the strong; they will protect 
themselves. 

And he says he is against trusts, and he would make it a 
felony for any officer of a corporation to issue more stock 
than the actual amount of capital paid in. Didn't you visit 
Governor Jones and ask that a special message be sent to the 
Legislature to modify or amend this trust law! He does not 
answer. He is the president of a National Bank, in the 
biggest trust on earth. How? They get bonds from the 
Government ; they put up 10 per cent in money and get 90 per 
cent bonds and issue money. They get interest on the bonds 
and loan money to the people at 10 per cent; so the candle is 
burning at both ends. Gentlemen, didn't the National Banks, 
as a rule, help to defeat Mr. Bryan? Didn't Jefferson refuse 
to recharter them? Doesn't Mclunley propose to turn the 
issuance of all the money of the country over to the National 
Banks? The money trust is the biggest trust on earth. He 
is the president of a National Bank, There is not a State 
in this Union that would dare to nominate as their leader the 
president of a National Bank, where party lines are closely 
drawn. 

What does my silver-tongued friend, Judge Bryant, have 
to say in a speech delivered to a Yankee audience at Chicago 
in 1893? How many old Confederate soldiers are there here? 
Hold your hands up. (A great many hold up their hands.) 
God bless you; you are the sentinels upon the watch towers 
of Liberty. I love the old Confederate soldier. Most of them 
have already crossed the dark river and pitched their tents 
upon Fame's eternal camping ground. God bless you. No 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 67 

man will bow with greater reverence to the old Confederate 
soldier than I. 

What did Bryant say in Chicago? Here it is: The Chi- 
cago Tribune of June 11, 1893, said that it took ten minutes 
for the ladies to quit throwing bouquets at him. Speaking to 
a Yankee audience, what did he say: "I am conscious that 
I voice the sentiment of my people when, standing here in 
this presence, before my country and my God, as a son of 
the South, born on Southern soil, and drawing my humble 
lineage from Southern sires, mth not a tie of kinship of per- 
sonal interest north of the Mason & Dixon line, lo\ang its 
memories, its traditions, and its history, cherishing the sad 
story of the 'Lost Cause' as a sacred and priceless heritage, 
and clinging as to the horns of an altar to a firm faith and 
belief in the sincerity and patriotic purposes of its lead- 
ers" — that is as pretty as anybod}" could say it; but this is 
only the sugar-coating for the pill he is going to give you 
now — "when in this presence, measuring my words, and 
knowing their full purport and extent, I declare that in the 
great strife of the sections, the victorious finger touch of God 
rested at last upon the banner of the Union." Ah, he says 
now in explanation that he is a patriot. He wants the Union 
preserred. So do I. What did he say at Benton\alle at the 
Confederate reunion? That was quite another kind of audi- 
ence. "We stand upon the arbitrament of the sword, fully, 
finally and completely, and with a growing consciousness that 
after all a Divine Providence, who watchfully kept the City 
of His Love, may have ordained it all for the best." Quite 
a different sentiment. God bless that sentiment. I can 
approve of it. If I come to you, my brother, and say to you, 
"You ought not to have had that difficulty with this man; 
you are wrong;" that's one thinsr. But when I come and say, 
"I don't regret that you got licked" — that's quite a different 
thing. He either regrets that we lost, or he is glad of it. 
There is no other le.gitimate conclusion. 

Ah, gentlemen, the Arkansas Democrat advises that T be 
arrested and be put in jail. I have the editorial ; it was the 
issue of January 31; here it is in part: "^\1ien the chief 
law officer of the State vnW denounce the Supreme Court and 
the Governor as Attorney General Davis has done, it is time 
to inquire whether there is any protection asrainst such vitu- 
peration and billingsgate. Is there no remedy for this? Are 
the courts powerless to protect themselves?" This means 
that I should be arrested and be imprisoned for contempt of 



68 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

court. This means the throttling of free speech. Ah, gentle- 
men, the man whose historic name I bear was once indicted by 
a picked grand jury for that purpose, put in irons and thrown 
in jail for his construction of the Constitution of the United 
States. He always pleaded for a trial. So if I should be 
arrested, I would be entitled to a hearing in the courts in my 
defense. This could not be denied me. AVill it be done? 

When I was nominated Attorney General the Arkansas 
Gazette of June 22, 1898, said this: ''Hon. Jeff Davis, of 
Russellville, Pope County, who was yesterday nominated 
Attorney General of Arkansas, is a successful lawyer and 
developed sprinting qualities in his recent campaign which 
indicate incomparable energy and magnetic qualities. He 
is a native of Arkansas, and his every interest is centered in 
this State. He was born in the lap of poverty, but his indom^ 
itable will and ambition pushed him forward and upward. 

''Circumscribed by circumstances which w^ould have 
daunted a less energetic young man, he toiled without cessa- 
tion and worked his way with distinguished honors through 
the A. I. U. From October 30, 1890, to October 31, 1894, 
he was prosecuting attorney of the Fifth District and served 
his people mth credit and distinction. He is an orator of 
fine qualities, well qualified in the law to fill the position to 
which he aspired so successfully, and in every particular emi- 
nently fitted for the office." 

Why such a change of heart? My prosecution of the 
Trusts. My distinguished friend, Jud^i'e Bryant, has been in 
the State about sixteen years. He held office eia-ht years, and 
has been running most of the other eight. He struck the 
State running, and has been running ever since. Colonel 
Fletcher has been running for Governor ever since I can 
recollect. 

Now, gentlemen, the question is this: "Shall the people 
rule?" Are you in earnest about it? Judge Bryant was 
born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I don't say that to 
his disparagement — he could not help it. I was born over 
here in the swamps of Red River Valley, Vv^here the ladies 
had to wear boots when it was muddy. 

All that I am, all that I have, all that I expect to be is cen- 
tered in Arkansas. It is the land of my nativity. 

Judge Bryant said he was a patriot; he is glad the Union 
is preserved. If Judge Bryant is glad we got licked let me 
tell you the legitimate deduction. How far is it from Rich- 
mond, Va., to Washington, D. C? One hundred and sixteen 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 69 

miles. How long did it take the North to march from Wash- 
ington to Richmond? Four long years. Every inch of the 
way was strewn with blood. He said that he didn't regret 
that our old flag trailed in the dust ; he did not regret that we 
lost. I do; but it may have been for the best, just as he said 
at Bentonville. You will never get me to say that I don't 
regret it. God bless you, I am not built that way. Now, 
what shall the people do I Let them choose between the men; 
that is a fair and square statement of the proposition. 

Gentlemen, I may never see you again. I hope that I will 
hold out physically in this race, if God will only give me 
strength. That is all I ask. When you present a thing to 
the people and they see it they mil always do right. I love 
my native State; I love its hills and its valleys; I love its 
bright waters. From the health-giving waters of Eureka 
Springs on the north to the great Father of Waters on the 
east that finally loses itself in the tepid waters of the Gulf, 
from the pine lands and prairies upon our west to our eastern 
borders, all up and down the hills and valleys of Arkansas 
there lives as noble, as brave, as generous, as gentle a race 
of people as ever sunned themselves in the smile of Omnipo- 
tent God. The papers say that nobody will vote for me 
except the fellow who wears patched breeches and one gallus 
and lives up the forks of the crefk, and don't pay anything 
except his poll tax. I don't know how true that is, but I 
want to tell you that there is no great reformation that origi- 
nated on the earth that did not come from the ranks of the 
humble and lowly of the land. Jesus Christ, when he went 
out and started the greatest reformation that ever blessed 
mankind, went to the hum.ble and lowly. Pie w^ent to the 
fisherman's cot, to the stone-cutter's bench. He did not have 
but one smart man in the crowd, and he had to knock the 
filling out of him in the sand before he could use him. 

Do with this race as you see proper; act upon it \Wsely, act 
upon it well. But when you vote, vote intelligently. The 
fight is on. It is between the trusts and the corporations and 
the people. If I mn this race I have got to win it from 525 
insurance agents scattered all over the State. I have to \vin 
it from every railroad, every bank and two-thirds of the law- 
yers and most of the big politicians. But if I can get the 
plain people of the country to help me, God bless you, we will 
clean the thing out. Do you mean it? Are you in earnest? 
If so, help me. 



70 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



As I say, all that I am, all that I expect to be, I commit into 
your hands and into your keeping, knowing that if I deserve 
your confidence I will receive it. If I do not merit it you 
will withhold it. Gentlemen, I thank you. 

Addendum. 

Gentlemen and Fellow-Citizens: 

After making the above speech, on the next day, the 13th 
day of February, at Nashville, in Howard County, I sub- 
mitted to Colonel Fletcher and Judge Bryant this proposi- 
tion: If the Legislature at its next session should pass an 
anti-trust law shutting trusts and combines out of the State, 
if you were elected Governor would you sign it? They 
refused to answer it, and refuse to answer now, which is 
borne out by the following certificate of the chairman of the 
meeting at Nashville, which is as follows : 

Nashville, Ark., February 13, 1900. 

I, J. S. Compere, state that I was chairman of this meeting 
at this place when Colonel Fletcher, Judge Bryant, Hon. A. 
F. Vandeventer and Jeff Davis spoke. I heard Mr. Davis 
ask in his speech publicly to Judge Bryant and Colonel 
Fletcher ''If the next Legislature should pass and prepare a 
bill shutting trusts and combines out of Arkansas, if you 
were elected Governor, would you sign it?" and neither of 
them answered this question. 

(Signed) J. S. Compere. 

I have just discovered a letter which Judge Bryant has 
written to James E. Hogue, of Hot Springs (and I presume 
all over the State). In it the following statement is made. 
I read it in my speech in his presence at Arkadelphia the 
14th day of February, and he does not deny it. The state- 
ment is this: ''Davis is the man to beat, say what you will 
about him. He has a large following in the back townships 
and is using methods that appeal to the prejudices of the 
masses." This, gentlemen, shows the cloven hoof. This 
shows the conspiracy. This shows where the fight really is. 



CHAPTER^ V 

GOVERNOR DAVIS'S SPEECH AT EUREK^i SPRINGS. 

I. 

Davis vs. Wood. 

Soon after opening the campaign of 1903, for a second 
term, with Associate Justice Carroll D. Wood opposing him. 
Governor Davis delivered a speech at Eureka Springs, in 
which he said: 

But Judge Wood says, ' ' What have you done for Arkansas 
since you have been Governor?" My fellow-citizens, it is not 
so much what I have done as what I have kept the other fel- 
low from doing. If you had a Miss Nancy, a man without a 
backbone, as Governor of your State, that gang down there 
in Little Rock would run over him in a w^eek. He asked what 
have I done for Arkansas. You have done much for me. 
The State in which I was born, where my wife and children 
were born, and where I hope to be buried, has done more for 
me than I ever can repay ; but I want to tell you some of the 
things that I have done. 

When I w^ent in as your Governor, you had no building for 
the deaf-mute school, it having burned down during Governor 
Jones's administration. I asked the Legislature of 1901 to 
make an appropriation to rebuild these buildings, equip them 
thoroughly and completely, and that I would provide for the 
money and that, too, by taxation not upon the common people 
of the State. The Legislature took me at my word. They 
passed an appropriation of $80,000 to rebuild these buildings, 
and today we have the most complete and perfect Deaf-Mute 
Institute with more than 200 students, cared for kindly and 
tenderly by the State, with all its expense of transportation 
and living provided without taxing the people. 

How did I pay for this, my fellow-citizens? During my 
first term as Governor, I introduced a resolution before the 
board that assesses the railroads of the State for taxation. 
I got it passed, raising the assessment on the railroads of 
this State about $5,000,000 in excess of anything that had 
ever been assessed against them before. Multiply this 
$5,000,000 by $1.75 per thousand, which is the ordinary 
amount of taxes in this State for State, county, city and school 
purposes, and you have more than $80,000, the amount neces- 



v. 



72 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

sary to build and equip the Deaf -Mute Institute, all paid for 
by the railroads. And at the last meeting of this board for 
assessment of railroad property I raised the assessment on 
the railroads again $1,200,000 more than during my first 
term. This brings into the State about $100,000 in actual 
cash, making nearly $300,000 in cash that has been collected 
and that will be collected in taxes from the railroads more 
than any Governor of Arkansas ever collected from them. 

Do you wonder that the railroads are against mef I saw 
Judge Wood and Col. Ben Davidson, the general attorney for 
the Frisco system, with their heads together consulting the 
other day just hke two old summer coons. Do you wonder 
that Sam Wilson, the detective for the Iron Mountain rail- 
road, is traveling over Arkansas to elect a man against me 
and declaring to the people of this State that I would be 
defeated for Governor? 

My fellow-citizens, there is method in their madness. 
They know that the corporations do not pay their just pro- 
portion of taxes. When I went into office the Cotton Belt, 
Kansas City Southern, Frisco and Iron Mountain railroads 
were assessed at about $4,000 per mile. Now they are as- 
sessed at $17,500 per mile. Is this unjust I I say no. Every 
year the railroads are required to tile a sworn statement from 
the auditor of each road with the Railroad Commission of 
this State showing how much it costs per mile to build and 
equip their roads. The Cotton Belt road last year— and it is 
true of the others in like proportion — swore before the Rail- 
road Commission that it cost them $84,000 per mile to build 
and equip their road. They put this high assessment upon 
it in order to justify a high freight rate on the merchants 
and planters of this State. 

Gentlemen and fellow-citizens, what is sauce for the goose 
is sauce for the gander. If they can put this high valuation 
upon their road in order to justify the high freight rate, 
should they not be fairly taxed as other citizens are taxed? 
Is $17,500 per mile unjust? Ladies and gentlemen, you need 
not worry about the railroads and other corporations. Your 
representatives need not lose any sleep fearing that they 
will not get their rights in this country; they would better 
protect the man who has the short end of the hand-stick, lift- 
ing the burdens of life ; the railroads will take care of them- 
selves. 

But it is said, my fellow-citizens, by my enemies, that I 
pardoned too many people. That may be true, I don't know, 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 73 

but I do know this, that I pardoned people while Judge Wood 
pardoned the railroads. Let me for a moment give you his 
railroad record. 

In 1894 a man by the name of Tomlinson was killed at the 
Union Depot in the city of Little Rock. He left a wife and 
an infant baby boy in her arms nursing at her breast. Cock- 
rill & Cockrill, of Little Rock, brought suit against the Iron 
Mountain railroad in favor of this little woman and her child 
for damages for the killing of the husband and father. They 
recovered judgment for $20,000 in the Saline Circuit Court; 
the railroad company took an appeal to the Supreme Court, 
and there the case lay for more than three years, and upon 
technical grounds it was reversed and sent back for another 
trial. The railroad company took a change of venue and 
another trial was had, and a second judgment for $20,000 was 
obtained, and the railroad company again appealed to the 
Supreme Court, and there the case is resting today, unde- 
cided, undisposed of. 

Why don't you go home, Judge Wood, and try this case? 
Why don't you give this little woman a judgment, if she is 
entitled to it? Why this delay? The boy that was left an 
infant in its mother's arms when its father was killed is now 
ten years old. This little woman, if she was entitled to any^ 
thing from the railroad company, ought to have had it when 
she was struggling to support this infant child. Judge, if 
you don't soon decide this case, this little boy, Tomlinson 's 
little baby son, mil be old enough to vote for me to beat you 
for Governor. 

My fellow-citizens, the Supreme Court is now more than 
three years behind with its work; they have on hand 2,617 
cases on the docket; they decide on an average 365 cases a 
year; at this rate it would take them eicfht years to decide 
the last fellow's case on the present docket. They are so far 
behind on their work that the last Legislature pro"^aded for 
the submission of a constitutional amendment by which an 
extra judge could be apr)ointed to help them out with their 
work, and I want to tell you, my fellow-citizens, how hard 
they work. These judges are an awfully overworked set of 
fellows. They come down to their offices about 10 in the 
morning, leave at noon, come back at 2 and leave at 4. Judge, 
you must be worked to death, to stand such a constant strain. 
Upon what meat do you feed, Judge Wood, that you are 
enabled to do such heavy work? 



74 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Ah, gentlemen, I could take one good lawyer and put him 
on the records of the court and decide every case that they 
have on hand correctly and properly in twelve months. Yet 
Judge Wood is out running for Governor, absolutely neglect- 
ing his official business (no one can decide a case for him), 
asking you to vote for him when he is thus derelict in his 
duty. Why doesn't he resign his judgeship if he thinks he 
can be Governor? He answers that he don't want me to 
appoint his successor; that I am not worthy to appoint. I 
think anybody could appoint a successor to Judge Wood on 
the Supreme Bench. He claims to be a profound lawyer, yet 
he never attended a law school in his life, he never had a 
legal education, yet he tells you that I am unworthy to appoint 
bis successor, and he is holding to his office while he is run- 
ning for Governor. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I now come to a question in Judge 
Wood's life, in his official career, that is unequaled, that has 
no parallel in Arkansas politics. He served as circuit judge 
from 1887 for six years. Ashley and Drew, two large Demo- 
cratic, two large white counties, were in the judicial district. 
At each term of the court while he served as judge he ap- 
pointed three men as jury commissioners to select the petit 
and grand juries for the next term. Whom do you think he 
selected as jury commissioners to do this work? He selected 
two white men and one negro at every term of the court. 

Did you ever hear of such a thing in Arkansas before? 
Would the circuit judge of your district do such a thing? My 
fellow-citizens, the statute of this State does not require that 
the jury commissioners be even selected from opposite polit- 
ical parties, and no one would presume that a white man, 
born and raised in the South, would select a negro as a jury 
commissioner to select a jury for the country, to pass upon 
the right of white people in the civil and criminal courts of 
the country. But Judge Wood did this ; he does not deny it. 
I have in my possession a certified copy of t?ie records of the 
court under the official seal of the clerk of Ashley and Drew 
counties showing that he did this. His only excuse that he 
made today for his outrageous conduct was that he did it in 
order to secure the negro vote for circuit judge. My fellow- 
citizens, if he would do this to secure the negro vote for 
circuit judge, what would he do to be elected Governor of 
Arkansas? If he would give negroes this recognition to get 
their vote for circuit judge, what recognition would he give 
them if he were Governor? 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 75 

My fellow-citizens, he trails in the dust, the dirt and the 
mire, according to his own confession, the judicial ermine in 
order to procure votes for oiiice, and these were the nigger 
votes that he sought. This same mantle he now wears as 
judge of the Supreme Court. He says he should not be criti- 
cized now; I say to you that he is trailing his mantle in the 
dust, not to get votes as Supreme Judge, perhaps, but to get 
the influence of the corporations, the railroads, the pools and 
combines of this country. Am I not justified in making this 
harsh criticism of his record which 1 have shown you before! 

My fellow-citizens, the negro question is the biggest ques- 
tion now confronting the American people. Teddy Roose- 
velt is trying to force it upon us, is trying to force negro 
equality in the South. Roosevelt only wanted to eat \yith 
negroes; Judge Wood appointed them as jury commission- 
ers and on the juries of the country. How would you, my 
fellow-citizen, hke to sit on a jury with a negro "^ His cam- 
paign manager, George Pugh, has forgotten that at one term 
of the court in Ashley County Wood forced his father. Col- 
onel Pugh, of Hamburg, to serve with a nigger as jury com- 
missioner. 

Do you know what the quahfications of jury commissioners 
are! The statute says that they shall be men of good judg- 
ment, reasonable information and approved integrity. We 
do not have any negroes hke that in my country ; we do not 
have any negroes possessing these quahfications where I five. 
Do you in your county? 

We will imagine for a moment that Judge Wood is calhng 
up three gentlemen who are to serve as jury commissioners 
at a term of court. He calls up two white men and swears 
them, according to these quahfications ; then he calls up a big, 
thick-hpped, kinky-headed negro, Sambo Jones, saving to 
him, "Come around here and be sworn as jury commissioner 
in this honorable court for the next term. Sambo, are you a 
man of good judgment?" 

"Oh, yas, boss; I'se got good jedgment. My jedgment 
nevah is questioned. I'se got the best jedgment of any nig- 
ger in this country." 

"Well, Sambo, have you reasonable information?" 

"Oh, yas, Jedge; I'se got good information; I knows where 
all the hogs is in the bottom, and I knows where all the de 
corncribs is that has no locks on 'em. Jedge, I knows where 
all the hen roosts is; dat am a fac', and I is a nigger of fine 
inflammation. ' ' 



76 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

''Well, Sambo, what about your integrity f" 

"Oh, yas, Jedge; I pleads guilty dat i'se got 'tegrity. My 
'tegrity nevah is done been questioned. Now, of cose, Jedge, 
my hand jest fits a hog's ear, but, Jedge, I is a nigger of 
good 'tegrity; I doesn't shoot any craps; doesn't do nothing 
that a nigger oughtn 't to do ; 1 is a nigger of the most perfect 
'tegrity in dis country." 

Ah, my fellow-citizens, imagine a judge appointing such a 
character as this as a jury commissioner. But, in justifica- 
tion of this, he says I appointed two negroes as justices of the 
peace since I have been in office, in Chicot County. 

I want to say to you that I never in my Hfe knowingly 
appointed a negro to any office. I find upon examination in 
my office that my private secretary in my absence signed a 
commission for a negro in Chicot County as justice of the 
peace, who had been elected but had failed to be sworn in, 
and the sheriff and the clerk of that county asked that a com- 
mission be issued to him inasmuch as he had been elected. 
This w^as done without my knowledge. Of course, I am respon- 
sible for the action of my private secretary, but I say to you, 
ladies and gentlemen, that when I went into office as Gover- 
nor that I announced this rule, and have never knowingly 
violated it: that no man could be appointed to office under 
my administration unless he was a white man, a Democrat 
and a Jelf Davis man. These have been the qualifications and 
the requirements for appointments in my administration. 
Judge Wood's action in appointing these negroes on a jury 
was deliberate and wilful; not once or twice, but at every 
term of the court. He says that he did it in order to get rid 
of the carpet-baggers in that country. I call your attention, 
my fellow-citizens, to the fact that there were no carpet-bag- 
gers in this State in 1887; we ousted the carpet-baggers for 
forcing negroes on us, the very thing that Judge Wood is 
doing, and I do not imagine that a negro would smell any 
sweeter to a white man or be any more preferable if appointed 
by Judge Wood than a carpet-bagger. His action in this 
matter is without parallel. 

Neither his predecessor nor the judges that followed him 
ever appointed a negro in these counties, and when he tells 
the people that he appointed negroes in order to get rid of 
carpet-baggers he must know that Judge Sorrells, a Demo- 
crat, had served tw^o terms as judge before him, that an inde- 
pendent Democrat had run against Judge Sorrells at the time 
of his last election, and that under these inviting circum- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 77 

stances to the Republicans they could not and did not elect a 
Republican, or carpet-bagger, as Judge Wood would say. 
Ashley nor Drew County had for years had Republican offi- 
cials, and there were no carpet-baggers in office there at that 
time. Judge Wood appointed the negro for his own polit- 
ical benefit, if anybody's. The party conditions at that time 
will not excuse it. 

III. 

His Paedon Recokd. 

But, they say I pardon too many people. I don't know, 
gentlemen; I may have pardoned too many. Judge Wood 
will tell you that since I have been in office I have pardoned 
more than seven hundred men, and by this statement he would 
have you believe that I pardoned that many out of the peni- 
tentiary. This is not true; about half this number I have 
pardoned and restored to citizenship; that is, when a convict 
conducts himself properly and shows that he is ready to go 
out in life and take up its tangled thread where he left off 
and is ready to make a good citizen, it is the policy of the 
State just before his term expires to restore his citizenship, 
to give back to him that which he has lost, to enable him to 
start out in life again, to give him another chance, and about 
half the pardons I have granted have been like this; one- 
fourth has been straight out of the penitentiary. 

But, gentlemen, the newspapers do not tell you of more 
than seven hundred applications for pardon that I have re- 
fused. I have with me a list of these I have refused to par- 
don. The newspapers would not publish this list; they have 
no room to print the truth, but worlds of space to slander 
and abuse me. Gentlemen and fellow-citizens of Carroll 
County, I never pardon a man unless the people of the county 
in which the offense was committed ask me to do it. I never 
pardon a man unless the best citizens in the county send me a 
petition. I can not know the facts of every case; I am sup- 
posed to be governed by what the citizens of the community 
know about it, and if an offense is committed in the good 
county of Carroll, and I received a petition asking me to par- 
don the offender, signed by the best people of your county, 
can not I presume that you are honest? Can not I presume 
that you are telling me the truth? Ought you to ask me to 
pardon a man that you think should not be pardoned? Don't 
you think you ought to treat me fairly? Don't you think you 



78 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

ought to treat me honest? Gentlemen, deal fairly with, me; 
do not ask me to pardon a man if you do not think it is right 
for me to pardon him, and when you see a petition is brought 
to you that you do not think is right do not sign it. 

Judge Wood says that 1 pardoned a man by the name of 
Simmons in Jackson County wrongiully for seihng whiskey. 
This case has been settled for two years ; it has gone through 
two campaigns, since which I have carried Jackson County 
by overwhelming majorities. The town of Newport and the 
township in which the defendant hves have both gone for 
me. These are local matters, and if the people of Jackson 
County are satisfied with my action in the Simmons matter, 
how does it concern the people of Carroll County and the 
State of Arkansas at large f 

Here is the petition upon which I pardoned Simmons. It 
contains nearly live hundred names of the best people in 
Jackson County. At Fayetteville, the other day. Judge Wood 
said he would give me $10 if I would let him have the peti- 
tion to keep over night so that he might see if there were 
some negroes on the petition. My dear Judge, you are very 
much interested in negroes. I would have given him the 
petition for nothing, it is a pubhc record, and he is entitled 
to it, but he kept bluffing at me, and I made him give me the 
ten dollars. I took it over to Goshen, a little village in Wash- 
ington County, and gave it to a poor Methodist preacher, and 
I want to say to you now, Judge, that if you do not stop your 
bluffing I am going to bust you or build up every little 
preacher in this country. 

But they say that I pardoned a negro — Pomp Brown, of 
Conway — for assaulting a white girl. Gentlemen, I am a 
Southern man, imbibing all the traditions and sentiments of 
the Southern peoj^le, and you know full well that I had good 
reasons for so doing. In our country when we have no doubt 
about a negro 's guilt we do not give him a trial ; we mob him, 
and that ends it ; and I want to say to you, my fellow-citizens, 
of Carroll County, that the mere fact that this negro got a 
trial is evidence that there was some doubt of his guilt. He 
was tried before a jury at Morrilton; public excitement was 
high; he was given fifteen years in the penitentiary and 
served five. The judge who tried him, Judge J. G. Wallace, 
now fiving at Russellville, in this State, wrote me a letter 
shortly after I went in as Governor, telling me that he had 
doubts about this negro's guilt, and begging me to pardon 
him. The prosecuting attorney, at that time, Hon. C. C. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 79 

Beid, of Morrilton, now Congressman of that district, wrote 
me a letter, saying that the negro was not guilty and insist- 
ing upon his pardon. These two letters were accompanied 
by a lengthy petition, signed bv such men as R. A. Dowdle, 
W. W. Mayo, 0. T. Bentley, J/G. Hanniford, E. 0. Hamon, 
W. J. Stowers, W, M. Riddick, brother of the Supreme Judge, 
and a number of the most prominent men in Morrilton, tell- 
ing me that this negro was not guilty and asking that I par- 
don him. What else could I do, my fellow-citizens, with such 
a showing? 

Recently Judge Wood and Mr. Vandeventer hatched up an 
affidavit purporting to be from the young lady's father, but 
this affidavit was only procured on the 17th of last month, if 
indeed they have an affidavit that is genuine and bona fide. 
It was procured for political purposes. More than two years 
have elapsed since this pardon was granted; it was never 
spoken of until this campaign. The opposition is growing 
desperate and must find something that they think will dam- 
age me in my race. But, my fellow-citizens, I have a copy 
of the sworn statement of the father of the young lady, given 
to me on the 24th day of October, which is self-explanatory 
and which I think ought to settle this question. 

IV. 

Anti-Trust. 

If you will remember I was elected your Attorney General 
in 1899, and during the session of the Legislature of that 
year what is now commonly known as the Rector Anti-Trust 
Law was passed. This law immediately after its passage 
became famous, not only in Arkansas but in the South and 
the West as well, because of the construction which I, as your 
Attornev General, placed upon it. 

Shortly after this act was passed the trust agents of this and 
other States called upon me to know what construction, what 
meaning I would place upon this act. I construed it, my fel- 
low-citizens, the only way I could construe it; I can under- 
stand the English language. T could not construe it except 
what the plain English of it meant. 

My distinguished opponent, Judore Carroll D. Wood, will 
tell you, and has told the people of this State, that an ordi- 
nary man can not understand the Anti-Tmst Law; that it 
takes a man with trained mind, or that it takes a la^^^er to 
understand it. Mv fellow-citizens, I say to vou that the hum- 



80 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

blest, the most uneducated sun-burned son of toil can under- 
stand the plain wording of this plain statute. Get the acts 
of 1899 and read for yourself and see if you do not under- 
stand it. The statute in question reads as follows : 

"Any corporation organized either in this State or any 
other State, or in any other country and transacting any kind 
of business in Arkansas, that shall become a member of any 
pool or trust, shall be subject to the penalties of this act and 
be fined in any sum not less than $200 nor more than $500 
for each day they violate this law." 

Is this statute easy of comprehension, my fellow-citizens? 
Can not any of you understand it? Do you need a lawyer to 
construe it for you? Listen to the statute ao:ain: ''Any 
corporation" — how many does that mean, my fellow-citizens? 
Does it not include them all? — ''that shall orgaiiize either in 
this State" — it is broader than that — "or in any other State 
or in any other country" — does not that include every cor- 
poration on the face of the earth? — "that shall become a 
member of any pool or trust, shall be subject to the penalties 
of this act." 

I told the trust agents, in construing this statute, that it 
means that no corporation, no matter where organized, 
whether in Hong Kong, China, or New Jersey, the home of 
the trusts, that if this same corporation was a member of a 
pool or a trust, that it could not come to Arkansas to do 
business without violating this statute. This construction 
caused consternation in the ranks of the enemy. They imme- 
diately assembled in Little Rook, more than five thousand 
men, had what they pleased to term a "business men's meet- 
ing," at Glenwood Park, in the city of Little Rock. The 
trust agents were there, the trust heelers were there, more 
than 5,000 of them. They said they were the business men 
of the country, but, my friends, T have a different definition 
for business men. The farmer at his plow is a business man, 
the blacksmith at his anvil is a business man, the carpenter 
in his shop is a business man. the railroad employee at his 
hazardous task is a business man, the lawyer with his client, 
the minister in the pulpit, the merchant behind his counter, 
are all business men. We are all united by a community of 
interests binding us together, that comes down to us from the 
great White Throne of God himself. AVe are all business 
men. 




GOV. GEO. W. HAYS. 



CHAPTER VI 

GOVERNOR DAVIS'S SPEECH AT BENTON VILLE, 

1905. 

I. 

Davis vs. Berry. 

The keynote speech of Governor Davis's first campaign for 
the Senate was made at Bentonville, December 2, 1905, in 
joint debate with Senator James H. Berry. Among other 
things he said: 
Gentlemen and Fellow-Citizens: 

I am proud to speak today to such a magnificent audience 
of the representative citizenship of Benton County. It is 
always a pleasure to me to address the good people of this 
county, and I would make almost any personal sacrifice to 
meet with and speak to j^our people. I have never asked a 
gift at the hands of the people of my State which has not been 
cheerfully and freely accorded me; and I come to you today 
with the highest ambition of my life — the capstone of my 
political career. I ask you for the highest office in your 
gift — to be the Senator from my native State, an office for 
which I have longed since I was a boy. If the people of this 
State believe that I will make them a good and faithful officer 
in that position, I ask your suffrage and support ; if not, then 
it is your duty as good citizens to support my adversary. 

I had thought until recently that I would not have active 
opposition in this race. Senator Berry announced in the 
beginning of this campaign that his throat was so sore, and 
his health so much impaired, that he would not make an 
active campaign, and that liis financial condition would not 
permit him to do so. I had credited the Senator with entire 
sincerity until I picked up a copy of the Boone Banner, pub- 
lished at Harrison, in Boone County, on November 8, in which 
Senator Berr}^ announces a list of appointments, beginning 
at Mountain Home, in Baxter County, on the 22d of Novem- 
ber, and concluding I do not know when. 

Mr. Chairman and friends, I have invited Senator Berry 
to be here today, and am glad that he has accepted. This is 
his home, and if there is any place in Arkansas where he 
could afford to meet me in joint debate it is certainly in his 
home town. I think Senator Berry owes it to the people of 
this State, and especially to the people of this entire county 



82 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

and the other counties of his old judicial district, to meet me 
at other points, rather than at Bentonville, where he is sur- 
rounded by his friends and partisans; but he has chosen 
rather to fix this list of appointments, taking up the back 
trail, as it were, coming in behind me, speaking where I have 
spoken, declining to meet me in joint debate after I had writ- 
ten him inviting him to meet me at all of my appointments, 
and not showing to the people of this State that courtesy 
and consideration which he has shown in former campaigns. 

He met Governor Fishback in joint debate; he met Gov- 
ernor Jones in joint debate; he did the people of this State 
the courtesy to discuss the issues in those campaigns mth 
his opponents ; but he says now that the joint campaigns are 
quite out of order; that his throat will not permit him; that 
the doctors have advised him not to engage in joint debate; 
that his financial condition will not permit him to engage in 
joint discussion ; yet I say that he is following in my footsteps 
and will not meet me. Just why, I am at a loss to know, 
because I believe, my fellow-citizens, that any man who has 
won his laurels, as Senator Berry says he has, 'mid shot and 
shell, on the forum, on the political hustings, can afford to 
show the people of this State the consideration that is due 
them, and that he meet me, his opponent, a mere "young 
man," in joint debate and allow you to say who shall be 
elevated to this high office. 

A letter floated into my room while here today, written by 
the Senator from Warren on November 9, in which he says 
it is raining down there, and that he will not have much of a 
crowd; in which he says that I am to speak at Bentonville 
on the 2d of December, and that he is seriously considering 
meeting me there, and he asked the gentleman to whom he 
wrote this letter to give him his most candid judgment as to 
whether or not he should meet me in joint debate in his own 
town. Gentlemen, T am not here todav to abuse Senator 
Berrv. If any man has come here to listen at me do this he 
will have to go away disappointed; I will not do so; I like 
Senator Berry; he is a good old man; but you must remem- 
ber that every Democratic Senator that you have had from 
this State, save and except one, has gone throusrh the Gov- 
ernor's office. Senator Berry was your Governor; Senator 
Clarke was your Governor: Senator Garland was your Gov- 
ernor, and every Senator that you have ever had, save Sena- 
tor Jones, was your Governor. You will also remember, my 
friends, that Senator Berry has held this office for twenty 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 83 

years; that lie lias been constantly in office since 1866; that 
when his present term as [Senator expires he will have held 
this office tor twenty-two years; certainly, then, he has ac- 
quired all the honor there is in the office. He will have drawn 
$110,000 in salary when his term expires, yet he is too hnan- 
cially embarassed in the beginning of this campaign to make 
a joint debate, but he is now seriously considering the pro- 
priety of meeting his opponent in joint debate at Uenton- 
ville. 

Ah, my friends, I have never credited the Senator with 
insincerity until tnis campaign. You will also remember that 
the JState Convention, which met at Hot JSprings last June, 
passed a resolution that tlie Senator from this State should 
be elected by a popular vote. Senator Berry has always 
demanded tins; has apparently wanted this. This declara- 
tion of the Democratic I'arty is a part of its platform. Sena- 
tor Berry was a delegate to this convention from Benton 
County. This resolution, demanding that the people of this 
State should vote on this race as a whole, was submitted to 
the committee on platfonn. It v/as discussed in open meet- 
ing; every one knew what the report of the committee would 
be; Senator Berry knew it; every delegate from Benton 
County knew it, and that was, that county hues should be 
wiped out and that the people of the entire State should vote 
on this question, and that the candidate receiving the highest 
number of votes throughout the State should be declared the 
Democratic nominee for this office, and that the vote of the 
people should bind the Democratic State Senators and Repre- 
sentatives in this matter. However, when this resolution 
came up for adoption. Senator Berry and the entire delega- 
tion from Benton were absent. He explains his absence by 
saying that a little child, his relative, had become seriously 
hurt at Bentonville, and that he had a telegram to come home 
(I do not suppose the relatives of every delegate from Ben- 
ton County were in this condition.) He says that he left 
the convention on this account, and that he hastened home; 
yet I find that he stopped at Little Rock a whole day and 
gave out inter\dews to the papers and congratulated his 
friends on his success in being one of the ' ' Big Four ' ' to the 
National Convention. I find that he went to Fort Smith the 
next day and gave out another interview about his wonderful 
success, and that he did not reach Bentonville until the third 
day after he left Hot Springs. 



84 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

My friends, I thought that the absence of the entire Ben- 
ton County delegation, including [Senator Berry, when this 
resolution was aaopied, submitting to the Democratic voters 
of this kState the senatorial race, meant something, and I have 
continually prodded the [Senator ever since to say pubhciy 
whether or not he would be bound by this resolution, but up 
to this good day he has not rephed, and I warn my friends 
now that the only hope the opposition have to defeat me in 
this race is to elect a Legislature so unfriendly to my cause 
that they will disregard the mandates of the Democratic Party 
of this State. Some of the opposition are so bitter that they 
would even elect a Republican Legislature in order to defeat 
me, and I w^onder if this old stage-horse of Democracy, who 
has been honored so long, would accept an oflice contrary to 
the overwhelmingly expressed will of the Democracy of this 
State. He seems to be playing to this sentiment; he seems 
to be wanting to get in in violation of this rule; otherwise, 
he would have expressed himself; he would have told the 
people of this State, as I tell you now, that if Senator Berry 
receives the highest number of votes cast at the Democratic 
primary, he shall have the office. Will he say as much! Can 
I induce him to say as muchf Perhaps he had better consult 
his friends in another city, to whom he wrote this letter, as 
to whether or not he should meet me at Bentonville in joint 
debate today. I have invited Senator Berry, as I say, to 
meet me at all my appointments, but I can not compel him to 
come, and in his absence I can only lay out the lines of debate 
as I myself may suggest. I wdsh he would meet me, because 
it would be more profitable to the people and more pleasant 
to me to have these issues fought out in joint campaign 
instead of the Senator, who claims to have won his laurels 
in joint debate, trailing in my footsteps and declining to 
meet me. 

Ladies and gentlemen, I know of no better way to proceed 
with this discussion than to compare records with, him ; I tell 
you of some of the things that I have done since I have been 
your Governor, to tell you what Senator Berry did while he 
was your Governor; what he has done since he has been your 
Senator, and w-hat I hope to do if I am elected to this high 
oflSce. You will remember, my friends, when I was chosen 
Governor, five years ago, almost the entire press of the State 
said that if Jeff Davis was elected Governor the State would 
go to the bad; the State would go to the bow-wows; that it 
would be ruined. Now, let us see if this prediction has proven 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 85 

true ; let us see if this statement can be borne out by the rec- 
ords; let the books be opened; let the records speak. 

My fellow-citizens, when I became your Governor, j&ve 
years ago, how much was the State of Arkansas indebted? 
How much did you owe in vahd outstanding indebtedness? 
You owed $64,000. How much do you owe today? Ah, my 
fellow-citizens, I am proud to say to you that you do not owe 
one dollar; that you do not owe one penny; that the entire 
debt of the State, during my administration, has been wiped 
out. This has been my highest aspiration; it has been one 
of my highest ambitions, that when I leave the Governor's 
office I shall leave my State absolutely free from indebted- 
ness. But, you may say. Governor, how much money have 
you in the State treasury? Gentlemen, I want to say to you 
today that we have in the State treasury, in money and secur- 
ities convertible into cash, $3,855,000. 

But you say. Governor, this is Populism, that it is rot. I 
do not know whether there are any Populists here today, and 
I do not care. I used to hate the Popuhsts worse than any 
man in the State. I used to fight them. In 1888 I was chosen 
by the Democracy of this State, a freckle-faced, red-headed 
boy, as one of their presidential electors, and nothing gave 
me more pleasure than to fight the Pops of our State. You 
will remember, my fellow-citizens, that in 1888 Grover Cleve- 
land tried to turn over to the goldbugs the Government of the 
United States and that 30,000 true and brave souls in this 
State rebelled and established the Populist Party. You will 
also remember that in 1896, when we nominated the grandest 
and truest man the world ever knew — William Jennings 
Bryan — for President, we stole all the Populists had ; we stole 
their platform, we stole their candidate, we stole them out 
lock, stock and barrel, and today these same men have come 
back into the Democratic Party and are voting the Demo- 
cratic ticket as bravely and loyally as any men that ever cast 
an honest ballot. 

Populists — why, I used to hate them ; but I did not know as 
much then as I do now; I did not have as much sense then 
as I have now. These old Populists tw^enty years ago saw 
what we are seeing today. Bryan today is advocating just 
what the Populists advocated twenty years ago; that is, the 
public ownership of public franchises; and I say to you, as 
Mr. Bryan says, that if this Government does not soon own 
public franchises, if it does not soon own public carriers, that 
the public carriers will own this Government. I came very 



86 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

nearly getting mixed up \vitb. ''Cyclone" Davis one time, the 
Populist leader of Texas. I had been invited to make a 
speech in Batesville in 1888 while I was a mere boy. They 
telegraphed for "Cyclone," who was in St. Louis. When I 
discovered this, I was almost scared to death, knowing what 
a mighty man he was, but the old Pops received a ^vire from 
him saying that he could not come. Some one had slipped 
into his room the night before and stolen his pants and his 
money, and the train left so early that he could not get out 
and get more, and I have thanked God ever since that 
"Cyclone" lost his breeches. 

Ah, my fellow-citizens, this old Populist Party advocated 
some of the grandest doctrines that the world ever knew. 
Among them was this: that you could legislate prosperity 
into a country. I used to believe that tliis was a fool idea, 
but I had not been tangled up with the Arkansas Legislature 
as I have since. I thought at that time you might as well 
say that a man could take himself by his boot-straps and hft 
himself over the fence. In a town where he w^as preaching, 
Sam Jones once found this sign, "Vote as you pray." In 
his sermon that night he said: "Yes, brethren and sisters, 
vote as you pray, but be careful that you have no foolish 
praying around the house;" and I say to you here that you 
can legislate prosperity into a country if you have the right 
kind of men to do the legislating. 

You remember the Hatch Bill. You remember that about 
fifteen years ago a fellow by the name of Hatch broke into 
Congress of the L^nited States. The other fellows looked at 
him in perfect amazement and said: "Old Hayseed, why 
are you here!" He said: "I came from a Democratic 
county in Missouri and I am loaded." Loaded ^^ith what! 
"Loaded with a bill to prevent the gamblers from gambling 
in the products of the soil of the Southland." 

Ah, my fellow-citizens, whether you be growers of corn, 
wheat, hogs or cotton, do you control the price of your prod- 
ucts? I say no. Who does control it? Not the merchant, 
because he gives you only prices quoted in the market. Who 
controls these quotations? Not you, nor the merchant. You 
growers of the products of the soil are as helpless as an 
unborn babe ; you do not control the prices of your hogs, your 
wheat, your corn, your cotton. Who does control it, then, 
you say. Governor? I T\ill tell you. There is a crowd of 
gamblers in New York City, called the Board of Exchange, 
that controls these prices. Did any of you ever visit the 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 87 



Board of Exchange in New York? I presume not. I was 
there about two years ago. I visited New York with Gov- 
ernor Clarke to try a lawsuit, and wliile there we visited this 
gambling house. You say, Governor, you should not call it 
a gambling house; it is a Board of Exchange. I say to you 
that it is a gambhng house. The poor boy in this audience 
that steals a pig is sent to the penitentiary for larceny. The 
man that steals a milhon dollars or a railroad of this country 
is called a financier and sent to Congress. That is the differ- 
ence. 

As I say, we went to this gambling house. Let me describe 
it to you just for a moment. We went up into a gallery ; we 
could not get down on the lower floor. I saw there a room 
probably about t«^o hundred feet square, and all around the 
wall were telegraph instruments ticking, ticking, ticking; in 
the center was a circle enclosed by a brass raiUng, perhaps 
eighteen inches high. Around this railing, which was per- 
haps eighteen or twenty feet in diameter, sat eight or ten 
men. 1 could not hear what they said ; little boys were run- 
ning from the telegraph instruments to this brass railing 
carrying telegrams. How many men comprise this institu- 
tion called the Board of Exchange? Four hundred— no more, 
no less. How much does it cost to be a member? Forty 
thousand dollars. There is but one man in Arkansas, so far 
as I am advised, that belongs to this institution. His name 
is Taylor and he lives at Texarkana. 

As I say, these men were sitting there tearing open tele- 
grams and going yow, vow, yow. I could not understand 
what they said, but in less than five minutes Clarke said, 
"Jeff, look there!" A price had been posted; they had 
changed the price of cotton the world over $5 a bale. Did 
they ever own a bale of cotton, my fellow-citizens? Did they 
ever see a cotton field ripening under a Southern sun? Do 
they ever expect to own a bale? No. What were they 
doing? Gambling in the products of the South. As I came 
up White River the other day along that stream, more beau- 
tiful than the Hudson, out of the car window I saw little chil- 
dren, girls and boys, thinly clad on a cold, frosty morning, 
children iust as dear to their parents as yours or mine are 
to us, picking the cotton, pulling it from the bolls, their Httle 
hands almost frozen. 

When I saw this sight, my fellow-citizens, my mind turned 
back to that other scene in" New York City, where the gam- 
blers of Wall street sat around the gambling table gambling, 



88 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



not only in the products of the soil of the South, but gam- 
bling in the flesh and blood and bone of the children of the 
South, and my heart cried aloud: '*My God! Is there no 
help in Israel? Is there no help for the children of the 
South?" Then the old PopuHst doctrine announced twenty 
years ago came ringing back into my ears, like the voice of 
one crying in the Mdlderness, saying: "Yes; organization at 
home; obtain friendly legislation in Congress." 

Ah, my friends, this poor man Hatch said to the other 
members : '*I am loaded mth a bill that will stop these gam- 
blers." You must stop the gamblers, my fellow-citizens, be- 
cause if you stop the plows and hoes of the South, if you stop 
the children, this old Republic will tremble and crumble into 
dust. You must stop the gamblers. Hatch said we will stop 
them. The other members of Congress asked in amazement, 
''How?" "We will tax them out of business; we will tax 
the cotton gamblers ten cents a bale on every bale of cotton 
they sell; we ^\dll tax the wheat gamblers, the gamblers in 
wheat and other products, and we will put them out of busi- 
ness." 

Did you know, my fellow-citizens, that these gamblers sold 
75,000,000 bales of cotton last year against your 13,000,000- 
crop? And yet you tell me that they do not control the price 
of cotton? I say that it does. Hatch wanted to put a pro- 
hibitive tax on these gamblers. The bill was introduced and 
passed through the House of Representatives like fire in a 
stubblefield. It w^ent to the Senate ; there it met opposition. 
Who was the first man that opposed it? Turn, my fellow- 
citizens, to the Congressional Record, volume 26, part 2, of 
of the Fifty-second Congress, second session, page 1857, and 
there you mil find the vote on this bill, and the first name 
that appears of those who voted against this Hatch bill was 
that of Senator Berry, of Arkansas, also that of Senator 
Mills of Texas, Butler of South Carolina, Senator Coke and 
other Senators who stood in opposition to this great reform, 
which the farmers of this Union demanded ; and, I am proud 
to tell you today that eveiy Senator, living in a Southern 
State, in a cotton-growing State save Senator Berry, who 
voted against this bill has been defeated. 

What became of the bill ? It was lost in the Senate. Sena- 
tor Berry said in his speech, printed, as I have shown you, 
in this record, that it was unconstitutional ; that it was licens- 
ing the gamblers. Hatch said: "No, Senator, it is not 
licensing the gamblers. We simply want to tax them out of 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 89 



business. We want to put a proliibitive tax on these gam- 
blers." But the Hatch bill was defeated, the gamblers were 
successful. Poor Hatch went back honio^ the gamblers 
bought his district and a Republican was sent to Congress in 
his stead and he died of a broken heart. 

Senator Berry tells you now, my fellow-citizens, that this 
bill was unconstitutional, that it was licensing gambling, and 
for this reason he would not support it; that he supported 
the bill introduced by Senator George, who was a great law- 
yer, he said. Ah, my fellow-citizens, the George bill was 
introduced in the Senate as a substitute for the Hatch bill; 
it was defeated as a substitute in the Senate, and when it 
came to a vote on the Hatch bill. Senator George refrained 
from voting, saying he would not vote against this measure. 
Yet Senator Berry did. Hatch is dead, and the cause is 
injured. I say to you today that what the Senate of the 
United States needs is a man who will stand on the watch- 
tower and cry loud and spare not. I say to you today that 
it would scarcely be unconstitutional to take this crowd of 
thieves and gamblers out and hang them; and I want to tell 
you that if you will send me to the United States Senate, I 
will let this crowd know that I am in town when I get there. 

But Senator Berry says: "Governor, you do me a great 
injury. I have a bill now, better than the Hatch bill; a bill 
that will stop gambhng in the products of the soil." When 
did you introduce it. Senator? Ah, my fellow-citizens, I hold 
it here in my hand; it is Senate Bill No. 7201, introduced by 
Senator Berry on the 15th day of February, 1905, read twice 
and referred to the committee on judiciary, and there it rests. 
Ladies and gentlemen, here and now I challenge Senator 
Berry, or any friend he has in Arkansas, to show one bill 
bearing the name of Berry that has ever become a law in 
the United States. During the twenty years of service in 
the Senate he has passed no bill of any character. If he 
could not do this in twenty years, how can he hope in the 
declining years of his official Ufe to be of any benefit to his 
people? He says, ''Governor, I have a bill now that will 
stop the gamblers." What is it. Senator? On examination, 
my fellow-citizens, I find it but a copy, absolutely a copy, of 
the old Geofge bill. He says that he will put these gamblers 
in the penitentiary. Senator, don't you think it is a httle 
late now to introduce this bill? Don't you think you had bet- 
ter have helped poor Hatch when he was alive? Don't you 
think you would have better voted for the Hatch bill and for 



90 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



the iuterests of the farmers of the South, and let the courts 
have determined its coiistitutiouaUty I 

Hatch has been dead now for years, his bill has been 
defeated ; you introduced your bill on the 16th day of Febru- 
ary, 1905. Its *' running time" now, Senator; don't you 
think the people of this State can understand your motive? 
Ah, my fellow-citizens. Senator Berry says he will put the 
gamblers in the penitentiary. If he can do this I say, amen I 
I will be glad to help him. But don't you think he ought to 
have tried this long years ago, and not now, while he is in 
the toils, when he dechnes to be governed by a majority of 
the Democratic votes of this State, and when his county 
(Benton), once 1,900 Democratic majority, only gave me 
twenty-nine majority against the Repubhcan candidate, 
Myers, in the last election! Of course, Senator Berry voted 
for me, but he winked in the other eye, and I came very near 
losing his county. I did lose his township (Osage). 

Don't you think. Senator, it would have been better to have 
helped this cause long years agof "But," you say, "I will 
put the gamblers in the penitentiary ; we will not license them 
as poor Hatch wanted to do, as you say." Ah, my fellow- 
citizens, I want to tell you that Senator Berry's bill, a copy 
of the George bill, which defeated the Hatch bill, is a frau^ 
and a subterfuge. Let me show you why. Suppose today 
I should go to the telegraph office in this town and wire to a 
broker in New York City to buy me a thousand bales of cot- 
ton or ten thousand bushels of wheat at a given price, and it 
should be bought, and I should be brought into the Federal 
Court under Senator Berry's bill, to be put in the peniten- 
tiary. The judge would ask me, "Davis, did you not buy 
cotton or wheat on the 18th day of November in Fayetteville, 
in the State of Arkansas, in violation of this billl" I could 
truthfully answer that I did not. Why, my fellow-citizens? 
Because I only sent a telegram to New York City; the trans- 
action is split; half of it is in Arkansas; half in New York 
City. 

I will make it so plain that no man can misunderstand it. 
This is a prohibition town; you can not buy whiskey here 
legally. If some gentleman in the audience wants a gallon 
of whiskey he goes to a telephone office, phones to Fort 
Smith, and has a gallon of whiskey sent to him at Fayette- 
ville. He gets drunk, and we have all the disgraceful scenes 
incident to a drunken man. Your circuit court brings him 
before the grand jury and asks liiivi if he did not on the 18th 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 91 

of November, buy a gallon of whiskey in Fayetteville, and he 
says no, that he did not. The judge asks him, ''Did you not 
have whiskey here!" He says he did. "How did you get 
it?" He says, ''I sent a phone message to Fort Smith, and 
a saloon keeper there sent the gallon of whiskey to me here." 
Don't you see, mv fellow-eitizens, that the transaction is 
split? Half of it in Fort Smith, half of it in Fayetteville. 
Can't you see that this bill of Senator Berry, proposing to 
put these gamblers in the penitentiary, is a fraud, a sul)ter- 
fuge — that it can not be enforced? Senator Berry, I want 
to ask you. Why did you not help poor Hatch when he had 
his bill in the Senate? ' You said then it was unconstitutional, 
and you would not help him. You have copied that George 
bill since, because you see you are in the toils. It is "run- 
ning time" now. Senator; ''running time." 

But Senator Berry says we had too much politics in Ark- 
ansas ; that the State is' agitated ; that the State is^ ruined ; 
that in the last five years we have turned father against son, 
brother against brother; that the State is absolutely de- 
stroyed by politics. I want to say to you, my fellow-citizens, 
that I do not believe that you will ever hurt any public trans- 
action to turn the sunlight of truth upon it. Senator Berry 
says there is too much politics. How do you ladies in this 
audience make butter? Do you make it by settinc: your churn 
in the yard and letting it set there all day? No; you take 
the dasher and stir, and stir, and stir; then you get golden, 
vellow butter. How does God purifv the atmosphere? By 
iis-htning. This is the only remedy He has provided. It may 
kill some men,, but that is the only remedy. 

What did the Master sav to the apostles in regard to the 
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? He said: "Go ye into all 
the world and preach the Gospel." Adtate, stir.^ How do 
you purifv your water? Ah, my fellow-citizens, is there a 
man in this audience that has a well at his house with an old- 
fashioned T\nndlpss on it? Go out tomorrow rnorning and 
draw a bucket of water from your well: pour it back, and 
pour it back, and Dour it back. Work this wav until break- 
fast time. Scientists tell us that agitation of your water 
gives it life and strenirth and vitalitv. Stir your well. Stir 
it up from the bottom. Tt makes it better, but vou do not 
stir a well that has mud in it. Don't stir that kind of a well. 
But I sav, 8-entlemen, take the well-bucket of truth and cro to 
the very bottom of every well of public transaction and stir 
it up. 



92 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Senator Berry says there is too much politics. He has not 
seen any politics yet. I have not got started. It is like an 
old man that lived in Thayer, Mo., who had never seen a rail- 
road train. (You know this is only three miles from the 
Arkansas line on the north.) He said to his son, Bill, one 
morning: ''Take me down there and let me see that thing." 
His son carried him down there. A freight train was run- 
ning through the mountains, whizzing around the curves at 
about thirty miles an hour. Bill said, ''Father, what do you 
think of it?" and the latter replied, "Stop it. Bill; stop it. 
It will kill somebody in the country." His son answered, 
"Why Father, it has been running here for two months and 
has not hurt anybody yet." He said, "Yes, Bill, but the 
durned thing is running endways now; wait till it turns side- 
ways and it will kill everything in the country." So I say 
to Senator Berry that this senatorial race has hardly started 
yet ; wait until the senatorial race turns sideways and he will 
see some politics. 

ni. 

Statehouse a Steal. 

Did I not tell you, my fellow-citizens, that your Statehouse 
was a steal? Did I not tell you this six years ago, when I 
ran for Governor? They said they only wanted to spend one 
million dollars on this building. I tried to stop them. I knew 
that they could not build it for this amount, and I told you 
that every man connected with it would not live long enough 
to see this scandal and disgrace obliterated. The contract 
provides that it should be built for a million dollars, from 
pure marble stone, excavated from the quarries near Bates- 
ville. 

My opponent in the last race for Governor said it could 
not cost more than a million dollars, because the bond and 
contract called for this sum. I told you that it could not be 
built for this amount, and on the 29th day of last July I sat 
in the courtroom in Pulaski County and heard a slick, smooth 
scoundrel, by the name of Caldwell, one of the contractors, 
swear that he had paid $17,500 to buy the Arkansas Legis- 
lature. Buy them for what, my fellow-citizens? Buy them 
to do right? No; buy them to do wrong; buy them to place 
an additional tax burden of $800,000 upon the shoulders of 
the people of my Statfe. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 93 

When I heard this statement my heart bled for Arkansas. 
I love her hills; I love her valleys; I love her history; I love 
her traditions; I love her past; I love her future. Here I 
was born, here my wife was born, here we were married, here 
my children were born, and when I die I hope to be buried 
in the warm and tender embrace of my native State. And 
when this scoundrel said that he paid $17,500 to bribe the 
Legislature to place this tax burden of $800,000 on the shoul- 
ders of the people of this State, my heart bled for Arkansas. 
He said he paid it to your Legislature. This was a cheap 
Legislature if he could buy them for this amount. 

I told you six years ago that this Capitol could not be built 
for a million dollars, and I have told you this every campaign 
since. Two years ago my opponents said that they had a 
bond, a contract for a million dollars, and that nothing more 
could be spent in the erection of this building, but when I 
went into the Pulaski Circuit Court, in the trial of the boodle 
cases of this State, I found that this bond and contract 
opened at one end to let them in and opened at the other end 
to let them out. Like the nigger's fish trap, it caught them 
*'comin' and g^^ine." It was a contract to let them in and 
to let them out, and I say to you today, my fellow-citizens, 
this building will not be erected for less than $3,000,000, if 
constructed according to the original plans and specifications. 

Did any of you ever see the State Capitol building? I 
hope you have. It covers eight acres of floor space. You 
could put every man, woman and child in Arkansas, stand 
them up just as this audience is today, inside this building, 
and then leave plenty of room for me to beat Senator Berr\^ 
for the Senate; and if we could get this race pulled off under 
the shelter inside this building perhaps the Senator would 
jig around on the corners and let me meet him. He will not 
do so now. 

This man Caldwell says that he paid $17,500 to buy the 
Arkansas Legislature. To whom did he pay itf He said 
he paid it to a man named Tom Cox, who has controlled the 
Arkansas Senate for the last ten years, and a man named 
M. D. L. Cook, a dirty, slick boodler, who was formerly finan- 
cial agent for the penitentiary. Mr. Rogers says that I 
elected Cook financial agent of the penitentiary. This is 
false. He was elected financial agent during Governor 
Jones's administration. I never voted for him in my life. 
I always knew that he was a boodler and scoundrel, and have 
told the people of this State so for the past four years. 



94 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



Mr. Caldwell says he paid $17,500 to these two men to buy 
the Arkansas Legislature. Did I not tell you six years ago, 
and in every campaign that I have made since then, that Cox 
and Cook should be in the penitentiary, that they should have 
stripes on them? Have I not told you, my fellow-citizens, 
that we were going to turn Red River through the Statehouse, 
that we were going to clean out that old gang there? They 
blocked up the old stream for awhile; they dammed it up, 
but, thank God, we have got it opened now, and it is turned 
toward the Statehouse, and we are going to clean it out. 

I crossed Buffalo River, a stream in Northwest Arkansas, 
a few days ago. It was so swift and people were floating 
logs down it so that I had to hire a guide to conduct me 
across it. The logs were floating so rapidly that this guide 
had to wade in and push logs back while I could whip my 
horse across. I thank God we have a guide at Little Rock. 
His name is Lewis Rhoton. He has a backbone of steel, as 
big as this old grip I carry, and I wish he were a candidate 
for Governor. He is after those thieves and boodlers. He 
is after Cox and Cook, and if you will just be patient for a 
short while we will show you Cook and Cox ^vdth two of the 
prettiest pairs of striped breeches on you ever saw in your 
life. How is Cook, this boodler, to get out of the peniten- 
tiary? There is but one way, ladies and gentlemen, and that 
is for him to be pardoned out. I say to you that I have some 
sympathy for a man who, in the heat of passion, kills his 
fellow-man, or, from other cause, commits some other crime; 
but I want to tell you, here and now, that I have only con- 
tempt for the man who will go to the Capital City as a mem- 
ber of the Legislature and sell his vote, corrupt his honor 
and betray the people of his country; and if any of these 
boodlers and bribe-takers get in the penitentiary, I want to 
say to you that they will rot there, as far as I am concerned; 
that there is no pardon on ice waiting for them from me. 

How is Cook to get out of the penitentiary? There is but 
one way, and that is the election of Bob Rogers as vour Gov- 
ernor. Cook says publicly on the streets of Little Rock that 
he does not give a d— n how often he is convicted, if Bob 
Rogers is elected Governor; that Bob Rogers will pardon 
him. Ladies and gentlemen, I say to you today that I am not 
here for the purpose of dictating to you howVou shall vote, 
or who shall manage the State Government of Arkansas. I 
shall soon surrender the reins of government to some other 
official, be that who he may; but I believe that it is my duty, 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 95 

as your public servant, to tell you what I know as to tlie char- 
acter and surroundings of this man Rogers. I say to you 
that he ought not to be elected your Governor. I say today, 
as I have said all over this State and in his presence, that he 
is the willing tool, that he is the servant of the worst gang 
of thieves and boodlers that ever attempted to loot the treas- 
ury of the State. 

He said at Cross Roads, in White County, when I charged 
him thus as their candidate, that he barely knew Cook, that 
he had never seen him but once, and that was when he was a 
mere boy and his nose was broken in a game of ball; that 
Cook took him to a pump and washed his face and sent him 
to a hospital, and that he had never seen Cook since, and that 
he did not know Cook, this boodler and bribe-giver. Ladies 
and gentlemen, I knew this was not true. My office door 
opens just in front of the Attorney General's, and I have 
seen Cook during the session of the last Legislature go in 
and out of the Attorney General's office so often and so fast 
that I thought he would set the old building afire. You can 
ask your Representative if it were necessary that he should 
be approached to know that there was boodling going on 
there. It was so thick you could cut it with a knife; you 
could see it and smell it and feel it. 

Bob Rogers and M. D. L. Cook, during the last session of 
the Legislature, were as busy as two cranberry merchants; 
they were awful thick; yet Bob Rogers tells you in his speech 
that he barely knew^ Cook. Gentlemen, I want to tell you 
just what did occur: At Cross Roads, in White County, I 
charged him with being the candidate of this gang of thieves 
and boodlers and he said, ''I have never had a business 
transaction with Cook." I knew this was not true, and I 
charge here and now^ that this gang in Little Rock paid his 
campaign expenses in his race for Attorney General; and 
when he said in Cross Roads, White County, that he never 
had a business transaction with Cook, I knew it was false, 
and later I bought from the Twin City Bank, in Argenta, 
his note which had been protested for nonpayment. I bor- 
rowed $486.10 to buy his note. Why did I do it, my fellow- 
citizens? To expose the poverty of Bob Rogers! No; I 
bought it to show to the people of this State that he was too 
thick with this crowd. Who is this note signed by? Read 
it. I have sent it to you all. It is signed by Robert L. Rog- 
ers. By whom is it endorsed? It is endorsed first by Wal- 
lace W. Dickinson, who has 300 convicts leased ; next, by J. J. 



96 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Ball, who lias 200 convicts leased; next, by M. D. L. Cook, 
this boodler, perjurer and bribe-giver, who has 150 convicts 
leased, with whom Bob Kogers has dealings every day in the 
management of the penitentiary. 

But he says that he did not know that Cook was a boodler 
or bribe-giver, or he would not have let Cook go on his note. 
Ah, my fellow-citizens; at Cross Koads he said he would let 
a nigger go on his note. Ah, gentlemen, we do not want a 
man for (iovernor who would let a nigger go on his note. 
Recently, when the President was here, I helped entertain 
him. There must have been 40,000 people in our Capital 
City, one-half of whom were niggers. I never saw as many 
niggers in my life. I had to take four baths to take the smell 
off my person. The papers say that I did not treat the 
President courteously. I stayed with him all day; I showed 
him all the courtesy any official could show another; but when 
we came to the banquet table, I found that Powell Clayton 
was to sit at the same table, and I said, "Mr. President, 1 
can not eat with the old one-armed villain; his hell-hounds 
and villains murdered my aunt in Little River County during 
the Reconstruction." 

Many a night has my mother laid out with me, a baby, in 
the woods, to escape the ravages of these demons. He mur- 
dered our citizens, he pillaged our homes, he depleted our 
treasury, and my mother would have no respect for me if I 
should sit down and eat with him. The food would sour on 
my stomach. I delivered the President to the banquet hall, 
where the luncheon was being served, and I said to the guard, 
"Cut the ropes; let me out. My God, let me away from 
Powell Clayton and his nigger gang!" Ah, my fellow-citi- 
zens, I did not eat with Powell Clayton, and the next time 
you hear from Jeff Davis he \\ill not be sitting as Senator 
Berry did, at a banquet board with this despoiler of our 
homes. 

But Bob Rogers said that he would let a nigger go on his 
note; that he was so poor; that he was a boy just raised in 
the sticks; that he worked for a poor old A\ddowed mother, 
and he cries and says that he never had but one mother, and 
cries and cries. He says he will kill me if I tell some inci- 
dent in his private life. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, his life 
must be dark, indeed, when he threatens to kill your Gover- 
nor, to commit murder, if it be disclosed. 

He says he did not know Cook was a boodler. Read the 
note which I have purchased from the Twin City Bank. You 




To 



EX-GOV. GEORGE W. DONAGHEY. 
Whom Jeff Davis Referred in His Conway Speech as 
"Honest George." and Who Later Became His 
Most Bitter Political Antagonist. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 97 



will see it is dated on June 7, 1905. At this time the boodle 
prosecutions were under full sway. All the boodlers had 
been indicted, everybody knew that Cook was a boodler except 
Bob Rogers. Cook will be convicted; he will be sent to the 
penitentiary; so will Cox. Their cases will be appealed from 
the circuit to the Supreme Court. Who will have to prose- 
cute them in the Supreme Court? Bob Rogers. Don't you 
think he is a little too thick with this gang? 

I am not here to dictate who shall be your Governor. Judge 
Little is a candidate, and also Mr. Sevier. They are not 
mixed up with this crowd of thieves, and I beheve that the 
honest yoemanry of this State, when they know Bob Rogers, 
will decline to vote for him. The treasury of this State is 
full of money. Like an old bee tree, which has bursted in the 
woods, this gang can smell, feel and almost taste it. They 
have been kept out of the Governor's office for almost five 
years; they are hungry, and they want to get their hands in 
the State treasury up to their armpits. I have kept them out. 
Be careful how you vote. If I were called upon to select a 
candidate for Governor, I could pick a thousand men that 
would suit me better than any of the opponents of Bob Rog- 
ers, but I know them to be honest men, and I advise you to 
be careful how you vote. I have never yet told you a thing 
in politics that has not proven true — our Statehouse, our 
penitentiary, all have proven just as I told you — and I ask 
you now to be careful. 

IV. 

The Penitentiary Crowd and Senator Davis. 

Among other things Governor Davis discu^ed at Beiiton- 
ville were the State convict farm and what he called **the 
penitentiary crowd." Speaking of the State farm, he said: 

"They found there miasma, frogs, tadpoles, pestilence, dis- 
eases and Johnson grass; they found a stockade, 30 by 40, 
with fifty men confined therein — niggers and white men there 
together. They found they were almost whipped to death, 
starved to death, eaten up with lice, sores all over their 
bodies; they found that a man by the name of Bradford, son 
of the Commissioner of Mines, Manufactures and Agricul- 
ture, a member of the penitentiary board, was doing the whip- 
ping; they found that he had a perfect mania for the whip- 
ping; that he whipped one white man three times in one day; 
that he whipped him until the blood slashed in his shoes and 



98 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

until lie fell prostrated in the row, until they thought he 
was dead. Yet Bob Kogers says they are reforming the 
penitentiary. 

Who IS it, my fellow-citizens, that runs the penitentiary? 
Bob itogcrs, Air. Ludwig and Mr. Bradford. Doctor Moore 
and myself, iiie other iwo members of the penitentiary board, 
have no more to do with it than an unborn babe. We are in 
the minority. They will not let us manage it. But Bob 
Rogers says they have reformed the penitentiary since he 
has been Attorney General; that it is now in good condition. 
I say to you that niggers are guarding white men on the 
walls of the penitentiary, armed with rifles and authorized 
to kill. I say to you that niggers are guarding white men 
at the railroad camps in this State, armed and prepared to 
kill. This is in direct violation of the statutes. Mr. Pitcock, 
the superintendent of the penitentiary, admitted that this 
was the case, and, by resolution of the board recently passed, 
he was instructed, on my motion, to refrain from further use 
of negro guards. 

Bob liogers says that he has reformed the penitentiary. 
Ah, my fellow-citizens, I want to tell you that this peniten- 
tiary, under the present management, is as rotten as hell 
itself, and if I were on a jury in your county I would hesi- 
tate long before I sent a white man to this hell-hole of filth 
and corruption for a trivial offense. 

Did you know that your last Legislature passed an appro- 
priation of more than a million dollars in excess of your 
taxes for the next two years, if I had permitted it to stand? 
One Saturday afternoon I felt a veto spell coming over me, 
and I vetoed $150,000 of this foolish, reckless appropriation 
before I went to supper; when I came back I vetoed a lot 
more. The $150,000 was for the penitentiary — $70,000 to pay 
on the convict farm, which is worthless; $50,000 to pay for 
the support of the convicts; and the balance to pay the sala- 
ries of the officers. I said to them: ''Gentlemen, you can 
steal what the convicts, eight hundred in number, make, but 
I swear by all the gods in the calendar that you shall not 
steal and use in riotous living the money of the taxpayers of 
the people of Arkansas ; you shall not get your hands in the 
State treasury. If you can not make these eight hundred 
lable-bodied convicts self-sustaining, you will have to get 
another Governor and another Legislature before you can 
steal the tax money of the people of this State to support 
them." 



THE^LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 99 

Ah, my fellow-citizens, this penitentiary ^Rna; is mad today; 
they are as mad as they can be. Why? Because I have 
dehorned that crowd in Little Kock. They are walkin^jj 
around the streets like ar old cow with one horn knocked off; 
they do not know where to get the money to pay this man 
Bradford for whipping the convicts to death, or the preacher 
for praying for them, or the scoundrel at the convict farm 
for starving them to death. They are mad, my fellow-citi- 
zens; they are awfully mad; hut I tell you, my fellow-citizens, 
that as long as I am Governor they shall never steal the tax 
money of the people to support the convicts of the State. 

But they say, ''Governor, you are a had man; you pardon 
too many people; you have pardoned eicrht or nine hundred 
men since you have been Governor." I do not know, ladies 
and gentlemen, but T would to God T had leoral excuse to par- 
don more of them today. I am always dad to reach down 
and pull a boy out of hell and give him back to his mother; 
I am alwavs glad to pull a poor fallen man from this cess- 
pool of filth and corruption, the Ai'knnsas penitentiaiy, and 
start him out again on the road of right living. 

Ladies, they call me the pardoning Governor of the State. 
I am crlad to be called the pardoninjr Governor: T am irlad 
that I have been able, durinar my administration, to lift so 
many shadows and sorrows from the hearts and homes of 
the people of my State: T am clad that T bnve been able to 
make so ma'nv hearts happier, because of the pardoninc: 
power. Mv fallow-citizens, never criticise a man because be 
is merciful. What is mercv? Mercv is God. God is mercv. 
Without mercv we would have no God. The sunshine, the 
flowers, the birds, fho trees, the brooks — evorvtbinjr in nature 
tells us in clad, lovincr tones of God and His merr-v. Do not 
be unkind to a man because be is merciful: vou do not know 
what shadow lies across vour patbwav; you do not know 
what clond overbano-s vour home. l\fv bov todav, a studont 
at the State Universitv, the pride of mv heart, mav commit 
an offense before nightfall that will incarcerate him in a 
felon's cell; and I say to you, ladies and centlemen, that if 
it were true, T would crawl to Little "Rock, if it were possible, 
I would crawl at the very feet of the Governor, T would wash 
his feet with my tears to obtain his pardon. Don't be unkind 
to a man because he is merciful. 

I -vAdtnessed the most tender scene at Calico Eock a few 
days ago while I was there that I ever witnessed in my life. 
A poor woman was there when I walked into the hotel. She 



100 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

had with her six little children, who were thinly clad. I 
could tell they were poor and distressed. When I walked 
into the hotel; she grasped me by the hand and said: *'Is 
this Governor Davis?" I told her yes, and asked her what 
she wanted. She said she wanted to talk to me about her 
husband; that she wanted me to pardon him. She told me 
her name and broke down crying, and then the children went 
to crying; so did T. Ah, my friends, if you had passed the 
hotel at that time you would have thou<?ht that there was a 
funeral there. There was weeping and moaning there. T 
told this poor woman that T could not pardon her husband 
because he was a fuadtive from justice: that she v/ould have 
to have him surrendered before I could pardon him. This 
did not satisfv her or the children, and T have been unable 
yet to get this terrible scene from mv mind. I can see this 
woman and the six little r)itiful children in mv dreams: T can 
hear them as T slpcn. Ah, gentlemen, do not be unkind to a 
man that is merciful. 

A few davs ago T went into mv office one Sundnv mornino:, 
and there snt a womnn with two little Hrls. rasr.o'ed arid bare- 
footed. As T walked in. she said: ''Is this (roverno-^ Davis?" 
I told her ves. and asked h^r name, and she said her namp 
was Mrs. Harris: that she lived in Pike Oountv. T saw she 
wns footsore and tirpd: In^v sbo^s were worn and h^r drpss 
bedr^ig-o-lpd. T asVod ber "^baf she wantod, and sb^ s^iul tbo 
nardon of ber husband. Sbf bad ^0 la"u^^pr. no r)o+ifio'n, but 
T listened to ber pitifid storv. She said hpv bus"^and was 
a'^cusod of «bootin<r at a Tnn-n. T asked b^r if be bfid hwf 
the man. T^or rertlv, mv fpl1ow-piti7pns. vnf^y^ make von lauo-b. 
but it did not make me laufrb. Sh^ said. ''"N'o. novernor: be 
never totcbed the man." But, ladies and jrentlemen. that 
pathetic story ''totched" me, and T believe it touched the 
great White Throne of Ood. I told her T would look into 
her case, and on the follow! nsr Tuesday when I was in my 
office I examined the case, with the result that T sent a par- 
don into the blue mountains of Pike County, wliich "totched" 
that httle home and the hearts of that woman and little chil- 
dren that were vAth her, and I believe that the Recording 
Angel of God dipped his wing in a fount of eternal cold and 
wrote to my credit that deed of charity, that act of kindness. 



CHAPTER VII 

SENATOR DAVIS'S CELEBRATED COB-WEB SPEECH. 

I. 

Suppression of Pools, Trusts and Combinations in Trade. 

December 11, 1907, nine days after Jeff Davis entered the 
United States Senate, he delivered a celebrated speech on 
**The Suppression of Pools, Trusts and Combinations in 
Trade." It shattered precedents, which usually constrain a 
new member to keep silent for at least a year before he makes 
a speech on the floor of the Senate. In an interview widely 
published a few days later, he said that he had ''swept the 
cob-webs off the ceiling of the Senate Chamber" with his 
great speech, which was more than a nine days' wonder at the 
Capitol. 

The Senate having under consideration the bill (S. 100) to suppress pools, 
trusts, and combinations in trade and to provide penalties for violations of 
its provisions, and for other purposes — 

Mr. Davis said : 

Mr. President: It was not my purpose when I entered this 
honorable body to retain my seat in silence, if possible, until 
my hair should have grown gray in service, until I had grown 
out of the knowledge of my constituents and lost my identity 
with them. It was my ambition, sir, to present quickly, fear- 
lessly, forcefully, and as intelligently as I might, some of the 
living and vital questions which are today before the Amer- 
ican people and in which they are deeply and vitally inter- 
ested. I know of no question, sir, before the American people 
that lies closer to their great throbbing hearts than that ques- 
tion the proper solution of which is in this bill under con- 
sideration. 

Mr. President, it would be useless of me, in this body of 
eminent lawyers, to attempt a strict lecral definition of a trust, 
but I shall content myself, sir, with that common, every-day 
definition known and understood of all men — that is, any 
combination of capital having for its object and purpose the 
restraint of trade or the fixing of prices. 

Ah, sir, the question before the American people today is, 
Is a trust a good thing? If it is, Mr. President, then in the 
name of the toiling masses of the earth, in the name of the 
men upon whose shoulders the burdens of government rest, I 
ask that we have more of them. If they are bad things, then 



102 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

in the name of the power that is vested in this body and in 
the Congress of the United States, I ask, sir, that trusts be 
suppressed ; that trusts be destroyed. The object and purpose 
of this bill is indicated in its title, which shows the purpose for 
which the bill is framed; that is that trusts, pools, conspir- 
acies, and combinations in restraint of trade and unlawful 
attempts to fix prices be suppressed, be destroyed. 

Mr. President, the bill speaks for itself. Without reading 
it at length, how plain, how simple are its terms. Section 1 
of the bill provides, in short, that any corporation organized 
under the laws of the United States of America, or under the 
laws of any other country, and transacting any kind of inter- 
state or international business in the United States of Amer- 
ica, that shall become a member of any pool or any trust, shall 
be subject to the penalties prescribed by this bill and come 
under its prohibitions. 

Ah, Mr. President, this is a simple bill, but it is far-reach- 
ing. Its consequences can not be in a short discussion of this 
kind foretold. I am told that perhaps the bill would not accom- 
plish the purposes sought. I assert, sir, most emphatically, 
that if this bill becomes a law and is honestly and intelligently 
enforced, it will suppress trusts. What is the language of the 
bill? **Any corporation." Does not that include them all? 
Organized where? Anywhere in the United States of America 
or in any country on earth. That shall do what? That shall 
engage in or become a member of any pool or any trust for 
the purpose of fixing prices unlawfully shall come within the 
pains and under the penalties of this bill. Sir, do not the 
words ''any trust" embrace all trusts organized anywhere 
in this land or elsewhere? I say that this bill reaches the 
desired result. What is the result desired? To kill trusts. 

I shall not enter into any long dissertation upon the origin 
of trusts or the cause of their origin. It suffices to say that 
trusts are here, that trusts are with us. How can they be de- 
stroyed? Why should thev not be destroyed? Shall they be 
permitfed to run riot in this land? 

Mr. President, section 2 of this bill pro^i'des that in the case 
of a violation of its provisions by a domestic corporation or- 
ganized under the laws of the United States we shall take 
away their charter rights to transact business in this country, 
and in case of violation by a foreign corporation the bill pro- 
hibits it entering upon our shores. Have we the power to do 
that? Is there a lawyer on this floor — I challenge him to the 
contest — ^is there a lawyer on this floor who would deny the 



THE LJFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAYJS 103 



right of this Governmeut to say to a home corporation, *'If 
you engage in this laud ol" business we will take from you your 
charter; we will take from you your corporate rights to do 
business/" (Jan any man deny that this (iovernment, in its 
sovereign capacity, has the right to say to a foreign corpora- 
tion engaged in an unlawful conspiracy to lix prices, "You 
shall not come into our country?" 

Ah, sir, the Chinaman by the law of the United States is 
prohibited Irom coming to our shores, and any foreigner may 
be restricted in his rights and subject to the restrictions of 
human society. Then, sir, if a man made in the image of God 
can be met at the very borders of our country and told that 
he shall not cross the border hne, i ask why it is that it may 
be insisted that we have no power to stop a corporation — a 
creature of the law — a law-made creature — that we can not 
stop them there f That would be strange indeed. If we have 
the power, as undeniably we have, then will some Senator rep- 
resenting the majority on this floor have the kindness to tell 
me why we do not do it? 

It may be said that we have a sufficient anti-trust law ; that 
the Sherman Act of 1890 is amply sufficient to meet this emer- 
gency. Is that true? Ah, Mr. l^resident, I have only to quote 
you the language of Judge Grosscup, one of the most eminent 
jurists upon the fiepubhcan side in this land, who recently 
made a speech in Coiumbus^ Ind., in which he said that if we 
but call the list of all the great so-called "trusts" organized 
since the passage of the Sherman Act we would be calhng the 
list of all the great trusts and corporations of the day. J udge 
Grosscup asked the pertinent question, "Have wages been 
increased or has the cost of living been reduced by the efforts 
at enforcement of the Sherman law?" He said, "No." Mr. 
President, can his word be disputed; can this statement be 
denied? Has there been an honest and effective effort to 
crush a single trust under the Sherman Act? If there has 
been, will the majority lay their hand on it? If you have 
crippled one, tell me where you hit it? You have not even 
crippled a trust; you have not lamed a trust, and you have 
not disturbed a trust. 

Mr. President, the bill which I here propose intends to wipe 
trusts off the face of the earth. You have the power to do it. 
Let the Democrats in this body, let the men from the South 
and West stand by me in this contest, and I promise you that 
this bill shall not be lacking in effectiveness, neither shall it 
take the course that has been the fate of other trust bills. 



104 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

sleeping the sleep that knows no waking in committee rooms. 
Mr. President, 1 am in earnest upon this subject. I mean what 
I say. 

{Senators, what are some of the other features of this bill? 

The further down into the bill you get the better it is ; the 
deeper you dig, the more sound Democratic doctrine you find. 

Who created the trusts? What were the causes which led to 
their formation? Before the Industrial Commission ap- 
pointed by Congress for that purpose, Mr. Smith, in summing 
up the testimony of the witnesses there, took the testimony 
first, of Mr. Havemeyer, the great sugar king. Mr. Have- 
meyer is dead and gone to his reward ; whether a good or bad 
one I do not know; but, at least, Mr. President, he has gone 
to that place and chme where St. Peter don't take sugar in 
his'n. [Laughter.] 

Mr. Havemeyer said in the testimony before this Commis- 
sion that the tariff was the immediate and prime cause of the 
formation of trusts. 

Mr. Gates, the great wire king of the country, said that his 
trust was formed on wire that they might become the wire 
manufacturers of the world. They all say that it is done to 
shut out competition ; that it is done to throttle trade. Then, 
sir, if the trusts were formed for that purpose, you have shut 
them out, you have not killed them by the Sherman law. 

Let us take this bill and consider it and see whether it is 
effective, whether it will accomplish the purpose. Section 6 
of the bill provides that a corporation organized for the pur- 
pose of forming a trust shall not sell goods for nothing; 
that they shall not sell them at a cost less than the cost 
of production; that they shall not give them away; that they 
shall not sell them in such a way as to injure legitimate com- 
petition; that they shall not sell them in one section of the 
country at a less price than in another section of the country. 
Is there anything wrong in that, Mr. President? Is there any 
Senator upon the majority side of this great body who can 
point to me any wrong in that provision? If there is, let me 
hear it. We say to these corporations you can not do what? 
You can not sell goods at less than the cost of manufacture; 
you shall not give them away ; you shall not sell them in one 
section of the country at a less price than in another section 
of the country ; you shall not do any act that will injure legiti- 
mate competition. 

Sir, I can only cite you to an instance in my own State. A 
local company in our capital city of Little Rock was selling 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 105 

oil at 10 cents a g-alloii in the city and 15 cents a e^allon in the 
country. The Standard Oil Company, seeing that tliey were 
an independent concern and desirini; to drive them out of the 
market, sent their oil to Little Rock, and these men saw bank- 
ruptcy starinp: them in the face. The Standard Oil Company 
began to sell oil at 6, at 4, at 3, at 2 cents a gallon, and these 
men, who were selling the independent oil, were forced out of 
existence. Immediately after that was done the Standard Oil 
Company placed the price of their oil not at the old price of 
10 cents in the city and 15 cents in the country, but at 15 cents 
in the city and 25 cents in the country. My friends ^vere 
driven out of business. Ah, sir, is that fair? Is it right? 
Will you sit here in your seats as Senators representing a 
sovereign constituency and allow these things to go on when 
you know that they are wrong? You can not fool the coun- 
try. You mav fool all the rteople a part of the time, you may 
fool a part of the people all the time, but you can not, thank 
God, fool all the people all the time. They know that the 
trusts are bad things; they know that you have the power to 
suppress them under pror»er lesrislation : and T place this bur- 
den on the shoulders of the maiority in this body. Wliat will 
yon do, gentlemen? "Will you pass this bill? 

I do not contend that this bill is perfect. I do not contend 
that the bill is without fault or blemish. If there are defects 
in it, it can be amended in committee; but, sir, I say to you 
"\^dthout fear of successful contradiction that there is not a 
laT\^er within the sound of my voice who wiU seriously con- 
tend that there is a provision of the bill that does not strictly 
follow the law. We have the power to suppress trusts, and w^e 
can do it. Section 6 of the bill is worth its weight in gold. 

What are the further provisions of the bill? It provides the 
manner of taking the testimony — a mere matter of detail 
which T shall not stop to enlarge upon. It provides that it 
shall be enforced bv the Attorney General of the United 
States and by the district attorneys of the various districts 
of the State in which the offense may be committed. It pro- 
vides that in the case of a man who lives more than a hundred 
miles from the place of trial, his deposition may be taken. It 
provides for the appointment of commissions ; for the procur- 
ing of books and evidence from the corporation itself, and 
pro^ddes, gentlemen, that if the testimony is withheld by the 
corporation after the notice pro\aded in this bill is given, then 
the trial judge may dismiss the pleas that have been filed by 



106 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

the corporation and may render judgment by default 
against it. 

Gentlemen, can this be done? I say it can. The law permits 
it. Then, why do you withhold it from the American people? 
When are we going to kill trusts, gentlemen? I will tell you. 
We are going to dc it whenever we lay aside partisan feeling; 
whenever we lay aside partisan bickering and partisan bitter- 
ness and rise to the true standard of American manhood; 
when we get upon the broad plane of American citizenship, 
and work for the great good of the great common people. 
Then, and not until then, can we suppress trusts. We, the 
minority, recognize, gentlemen, that we are in your hands — 
in the hands of the majority. The bill is presented, and I ask 
for it your respectful consideration. 

Section 2 of the bill is the best of all. It provides the pen- 
alties. The penalties provided by this section are these : Any 
corporation violating the act may be fined in any sum not less 
than $5,000 for each day's offense, and each day the offense 
shall be continued shall be considered a separate offense. 
More than that, Mr. President, it provides for a penitentiary 
sentence of not less than five nor more than twenty-one vears 
for any man violating its solemn mandates. Ah. Mr. Presi- 
dent, make this penaltv the law. Even if you defeat the bill, 
if you refuse to consider it, if you trample it under your Sen- 
atorial feet, leave the penalty clause as a part of the Sherman 
law. Let the great trust mag-nates of the land understand, 
sir, that they are not above the law; that the strons: arm of 
the law can reach them, and that the strong arm of the law 
will reach them. Prosecute them just like vou would any other 
fel©ns; prosecute them just like you would an ordinary horse 
thief. The man who steals your horse commits a very small 
injury to your property, indeed, but the man who, under the 
trust process, grinds and oppresses and destroys American 
manhood and shuts the door of opportunity to millions and 
millions of men does a wrong and an injury, Mr. President, 
that can not be compensated in mere fines. Put them in the 
penitentiary. 

^ Do you know the best obiect lesson today for the suppres- 
sion of the trusts, sir, would be to see John T). Rockefeller or 
some fellow just like him ^^dth stripes on. That is strong lan- 
guage, but I mean it. Let every man, no matter who he is or 
how big he is, come under the law. If he violates it, place 
upon him felon's stripes, the doxology of a misspent life, and 
he will respect the law. Let no guilty man escape, Mr. Presi- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 107 

dent. Let the great American people understand that the law 
is made lor ail alike. i'roLecl ilic weak man m his cabin and 
protect the great man in his castle, but protect all alike. I 
say the remedy, Mr. President, is to make the strong arm of 
the law reach out and get those who violate the law. 

What next does this bill provide t It detines what is a mo- 
nopoly and what is a trust. Without intending to read all of 
section 5, i shall read a portion of it so as to be entirely accu- 
rate. It says : 

Sec. 0. That a monopoly or trust intended to be prohibited by this act 
is any union or combination or consolidation or affiliation of capital, credit, 
property, assets, trade, customs, skill or acts or any other valuable thing 
or possession by or between persons, tirms, or corporations or associations of 
persons, tirms, or corporations, whereby any one of the purposes or objects 
mentioned in this act is accomplished or sought to be accomplished, or 
whereby any one or more of said purposes are promoted or attempted to be 
execuied or turrieci oui, or wheieuy lUe several evil results meuLioued herein 
are reasonably calculated to be produced, etc. 

That detines what a monopoly is. I shall not take the time 
of the benate to read the whole section, but the dehnition em- 
braces all kinds of trusts. 

n. 

Swollen Fortunes. 

Now, sir, I want to say that in my judgment the American 
people are looking to this Congress for some relief on ton 
great question. Talk about the panic that is on hand. What 
is the cause of the panic! I shall not attempt to discuss that 
because it would not be germane to this question; but, sir, no 
longer can it be claimed by the iiepublican party of this na- 
tion that panics do not occur when the G. U. F. is in power. 
The people of this country today are aroused as they never 
have been stirred before. 

Mr. Havemeyer says in his testimony, from which I have 
quoted, that the taritf is the mother of trusts and thar. the 
trusts are but reaping and gathering the benefits they have 
been enabled to gather by reason of the tarilf. Ah, sir, if that 
is true, then the tariff, as he says, is the mother of trusts, and 
the trusts are reaping the benefit of the taritf. Today, sir, we 
see the amazing spectacle of fifty-one men in the United 
States, beginning with John D. Rockefeller, owning $3,295,- 
000,000 of the wealth of this country. In this connection, Mr. 
President, I ask leave to submit as a part of my remarks, to 
be printed as an appendix, a very carefully prepared manu- 
script upon this subject, giving a list of fifty-one men in this 



108 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



great country of ours who have amassed large fortunes, and 
the amount that each one has amassed. 

The Vice President: The Senator from Arkansas asks 
unanimous consent to insert as a part of his remarks the state- 
ment referred to by him. In the absence of objection per- 
mission is granted. 

The statement referred to is as follows: 

THE RICHEST FIFTT-ONE IN THE UNITED STATES. 

When the average present-day millionaire is bluntly asked to name the 
value of his earthly possessions, he finds it difficult to answer the question 
correctly. It may be that he is not willing to take the questioner into his 
confidence. It is doubtful whether he really knows. 

]f this is true of the millionaire himself, it follows that when others at- 
tempt the task of estimating the amount of his wealth the results must be 
conflicting. Still, excellent authorities are not lacking on this subject, and 
t 3 list of the richest fifty-one persons in the United States has been satis- 
factorily compiled. 

The following list is taken from Munsey's Scrap Book of June, 1906, and 
is a fair presentation of the property owned by fifty-one of the very richest 
men of the United States: 





1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 

23 

24 

25 

26 

27 

28 

29 

30 

31 

32 

33 



Name. 



John D. Rockefeller. 
Andrew Carnegie... 

W. W. Astor 

J. Pierpont Morgan. 
William Rockefeller. 

H. H. Rogers 

W. K. Vanderbilt 

Senator Clark 

John Jacob Aster..., 

Russell Sage , 

H. C. Frick 

D. 0. Mills 

Marshall Field, Jr 

Henry M. Flagler.... 

J. J. Hill 

John D. Archbold 

Oliver Payne 

J. B. Haggin 

Harry Field 

James Henry Smith. . 

Henry Phipps 

Alfred G. Vanderbilt. 

H. O. Havemeyer 

Mrs. Hetty Green.... 

Thomas F. Ryan 

Mrs. W. Walker 

George Gould 

J. Ogden Armour 

E. T. Gerry 

Robert W. Goelet 

J. H. Flager 

Claus Spreckels 

W. F. Havemeyer.... 



How made. 



Oil 

Steel 

Real estate 

Finance 

Oil 

.... do 

Railroads 

Copper 

Real estate 

Finance 

Steel and coke. 

Banker 

Inherited 

Oil 

Railroads 

Oil 

.... do 

Gold 

Inherited 

.... do 

Steel 

Railroads 

Sugar 

Finance 

.... do 

Inherited 

Railroads 

Meat 

Inherited 

Real estate 

Finance 

Sugar 

.... do 



Total fortune. 



1600,000,000 

300,000,000 

300,000,000 

150,000,000 

100,000,000 

100,000,000 

100,000,000 

100,000,000 

100,000,000 

80,000,000 

80,000,000 

75,000,000 

75,000,000 

60,000,000 

60,000,000 

50,000,000 

50,000,000 

50,000,000 

50.000,000 

40,000,000 

40,000,000 

40,000,000 

40,000,000 

40,000,000 

40,000,000 

35,000,000 

35.000,000 

30,000,000 

30,000,000 

30,000,000 

30,000,000 

30.000,000 

30.000.000 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 109 



s 

34 
35 


Name. 


How made. 


Total fortune. 


Jacob H. Schlff 


Banker 

Street cars 


25,000,000 
25,000 000 


P. A. B. Widener 


3fi 


George F. Baker 


Banker 

Finance 


25,000,000 
20,000,000 
20,000,000 
20,000,000 
20,000,000 
20,000,000 
20,000,000 
20,600,000 
20.000,000 
20,000,000 


37 


August Belmont 


38 


James Sullivan 


Banker 

Finance 


39 


John W. Gates 


40 


Norman B. Ream 


do 


41 


Joseph Pulitzer 


Journalist 

do 


42 


James G. Bennett 


43 


John G. Moore 


Finance 


44 


D. G. Reid 


Steel 

Brewer 

Inherited 

Railroads ^ 

Tobacco 


45 


Frederick Pabst 


46 


William D. Sloane 


20,000,000 


47 


William B. Leeds 


20,000,000 


48 


James P. Duke 


20,000,000 


49 


Anthony N. Brady 


Finance 

Railroads 

do 


20,000,000 


50 


George W. Vanderbllt 


20,000,000 


51 


Fred W. Vanderbilt 


20,000,000 
$3,295,000,000 




Total 











It will thus be seen that fifty-one persons in the United States, with a 
population of nearly 90,000,000 people, own approximately one thirty-fifth of 
the entire wealth of the United States. The Statistical Abstract of the 
United States, twenty-ninth number, lyui, prepared under the direction of 
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor of the United States, gives the esti- 
mated true value of all property in the United States for that year at $107,- 
104,211,917. 

Each of the favored fifty-one owns a wealth of somewhat more than 
$64,600,000, while each of the remaining 89,099,950 people get $1,100. No 
one of these fifty-one owns less than $20,000,000, and no one on the average 
owns less than $64,600,000. Men owning from $1,000,000 to $20,000,000 are 
no longer called rich men. There are approximately 4,000 millionaires in the 
United States, but the aggregate of their holdings is difficult to obtain. If all 
their holdings be deducted from the total true value of all the property in 
the United States, the average share of each of the other 89.995,000 people 
would be less than $500. 

John Jacob Astor is reputed to have been the first American millionaire, 
although this is a matter impossible to decide. It is also claimed that 
Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, the great grandfather of Congressman 
Longworth, was the first man west of the Allegheny Mountains to amass 
a million. It is difficult to prove either one of these propositions, but they 
prove that the age of the millionaire in the United States is a comparatively 
recent thing. In 1870 to own a single million was to be a very rich man; In 
1890 it required at least $10,000,000, while today a man with a single million, 
or even ten millions, is not in the swim. To be enumerated as one of the 
world's richest men you must own not less than $20,000,000. The age of 
the multi-millionaire began with the high tariff of the Republican party la 
1897 and is now in the zenith of its glory. Havemeyer, of the sugar trust, in 
his sworn testimony before the Industrial Commission, said that the tarl4 
was the mother of all the trusts, and everybody concedes that the trusta 
breed multi-millionaires. 

Mr. Davis: Government statistics, sir, show the true and 
total wealth of the 89,000,000 people of this country is, in 
round numbers, $107,000,000,000. Fifty-one men today own 
$3,295,000,000 of this amount, or one-thirty-fifth of the entire 



no THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

wealth of the country. This does not include men who own 
simply a million dollars' worth of property. Men who today 
own not more than a million dollars are poor men indeed. In 
1870, sir, a man was a rich man if he was a millionaire. In 
IbyU the standard had moved up and it required $10,000,000 
to be counted in the swim; but today, sir, a man is not con- 
sidered a rich man unless he owns at least $20,000,000. 

Take the hfty-one men — trust magnates, if you please, men 
who have grown rich by these processes — owning $3,295,000,- 
000 of the wealth of the country; add to that the wealth of 
the other 4,000 millionaires who own as much as a million 
dollars each, but not so much as $20,000,00, and you have, sir, 
an appalhng state of alfairs. The men own about 87 1/^ per 
cent of the wealth of the country. The common, ordinary, 
every-day man of the 89,000,000 people living under this great 
Government owns, on an average, less than $500 in property. 
You ask, is that truei? Ah, your own statistics show it. Can 
you answer to the country why and how this occurred I 

JSir, what is money that it has grown so priceless f Money 
is simply a means to an end. This is a day of commercialism. 
The country has gone wild about money. This is a day, Mr. 
President, when gold is placed above God and money is placed 
above men, when we would sell our souls, our Government, our 
all for dollars. There is a mad desire to get money, and 
everybody has the fever. 

Sir, there is some trouble somewhere. What is that trou- 
ble ? Happy, indeed, and beneticial to mankind will be the man 
who can solve the problem, diagnose the case, and apply the 
remedy. 

Mr. President, our fathers, when they framed this Govern- 
ment more than a hundred years ago, embarked in an un- 
known undertaking. They embarked upon a sea without rud- 
der and without compass. They had neither precedent nor 
example. They intended to form a Government that should 
be a simple Government, that should be a pure Government, 
that should be a Government, indeed, of the people, for the 
people, and by the people. But, sir, is that the condition pre- 
vailing today I Mr. Lincoln, the great patron saint of the 
Republican party — God bless his memory — in his latter days 
spoke a great truth when, looking down upon this Government 
from his lofty height in the travail of his soul, he said, *'I see 
an era approaching which gives me more concern than did the 
Civil war. I see a period approaching when all the wealth of 
the country will be concentrated in the hands of a few, and 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 111 

when that day shall arrive I tremble, sir, for the Republic 
itself." I do not quote Mr. Lincoln exactly, but that is the 
substance of what he said. 

Mr. President, I am not an alarmist. I am not a socialist. 
Neither am I an anarchist. But I stand here today to tell you 
that there is somethinc: wron^ — radically wronsr. This is not 
the Government handed down to us by our fathers. The old 
ship of State has drifted far from her moorincrs, and unless 
we tow her back to the old-time democratic simplicity. T stand 
here today to tell you. sir, that we are upon the very threshold 
of a national calamity. 

Who was the crreatest President, save find except Oeorsje 
Washington, that this country ever hnd? I snv without fear 
of successful contradiction that Old Hickory, Old Blue .leans, 
was the irreatest President this country ever produf^od. Whon 
he was sworn in as Chief Executive of this srreat Nation, he 
came to the White House on horseback. He rode his horse 
out here, hitched it to a rack, and, dressed in a suit of blue 
.leans, walked into the White House and took the oath of ofTice. 
How simple was that ceremony! How plain ! Tf a man should 
do that today, he would be called crazv. Today there is too 
much crloss, there is too much clitter, there is too muf'h !7old, 
there is too much tinsel. Tf thins:? continue for another quar- 
ter of a century as thev have for the past twenty-five years, 
the statesmen of America will be wearinir knee breeches with 
brass buckles, and powdered wicrs, and when they 0:0 to the 
Wliito Houso will be bowinsr down to semi-royalty. 

We are sroins: too fast. The world is movinir too fast. We 
want to 2ret money. Gold is God. Sir, what did the last Con- 
gress appropriate for the current expenses of this Govern- 
ment? If I remember the ficrures correotly, $900,000,000. or 
thereabout. Nine hundred million dollars! Sirs, this is a 
sum of money which sta!rQ"ers the human mind to contemplate. 
Nine hundred million dollars! Tf you wero to pile if up on 
this floor and let mv <rood lookinir vounjr friend, the Spuntor 
from Tndiana (Mr. Beveridjre) start to count it, and let him 
count $2 a minute, and let him work as strenuously as the 
Senate itself works, he would be old as ]\fethusolah before he 
could count half the money. Nine hundred million dollars ap- 
propriated to run the Government! Too much money, Mr. 
President. 

What else occurred? Tn addition to the ordinary appro- 
priation for the President's salary, $50,000, you rrave him $25,- 
000 to ride over the county on business trips and otherwise. I 



112 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

speak of the President in most respectful terms. You not only 
did that, but you gave him sixty or seventy thousand dollars 
for something else — I do not know for what purposes — and 
altogether it takes about $120,000 to support our distinguished 
President and his family. While I have the greatest admira- 
tion for Mr. Roosevelt, t understand he has only five children. 
I have him skinned a city block. [Laughter.] I have eight 
children, and it does not take $120,000 to support me and my 
family. 

Mr. President, why do I mention these things? To show 
the trend of the times; to show how the old ship of state is 
sailing; to show how gold is God. Sir, money today is all 
powerful. You know, every one of you know, that it opens 
the door of opportunity to all men; that the lack of it locks the 
door of opportunity to all. It opens the door to society and 
great functions. In some instances I am sorry to say that 
the doors of the Church itself are not opened so widely and so 
gladly to men in tatters and rags as they are to the man with 
money. Money is powerful. Evers^body respects money. 
Whether a fellow ever expects to get a dollar or not he looks 
at it with awe and trembling. He walks up to it with a great 
deal of fear. He dofCs his hat and tosses it high in the air at 
the sight of this great monster. 

You say, sir, this bill is radical; this bill is extreme; it will 
tear up the business interests of the country; it will destroy 
confidence; it T\^^ ruin the Republic. I pause to ask the ques- 
tion, Will you destroy the Republic or will you destroy the 
trusts? ''Choose you this day whom ye will serve," whether 
Grod or Mammon. Are you going to serve the trusts or are 
you going to serve the p?»ople? "''Wake up." Sir, disturb 
business relations; disturb business conditions. If it is neces- 
sary to save the Republic, I say disturb anything, disturb 
anybody. 

I know, sir, that business is easily frightened. I know, sir, 
that money is timid. I know, sir, tliat there are a great many 
interests in this country that do not want any radical changes ; 
that would rather submit supinely and let present conditions 
alone, no matter how harmful or how hurtful, than to disturb 
business conditions. The cry of disturbing financial condi- 
tions and business relations is too often the shield behind 
which cowardly public servants hide themeslves when they 
are called upon to face an outraged constituency. You say 
the bill is too drastic, too strong; it would really accomplish 
the intended purpose if it is passed ; it would really destroy 




FORMER CONGRESSMAN S. BRUNDIDGE. 

Who is one of the Ablest Debaters in a 

Campaign in Arkansas 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 113 



the trusts. Can anything be too strong that will reach tlie 
seat of this disease! The trust on the body politic is a can- 
cerous sore just as is a simiLir sore on tlie human body. The 
only remedy is the surgeon's knife. Take it. Cut it out by 
the root. Destroy it before it destroys the human body. If 
a Senator on this floor should see his child, the loved one of 
his heart, in danger of being bitten by an adder, would he 
strike with fear, would he strike with trepidation? No, sir. 
He would strike to kill. He would strike to destroy. That is 
what this bill means; that is its object; that is its purpose. 
And I tell you, Mr. President, that if I could get the assist- 
ance, as I know I can, of the Democratic minority of this 
august body, the Senate shall not deride and put to sleep a 
bill that has for its object and purpose the destruction of this 
great evil. If there is any power in the Democratic minority, 
if there is any power left in Democratic Senators, this bill has 
got to be brought back here, if I can see that it is done or if 
the minority can. It has got to be reported, favorably or un- 
favorably, and it must be fought out on the floor. 

Mr. President, I say there is something wrong. Our fathers 
did not intend this when they framed the Government. Let 
us stop and study the history of our Government for just a 
moment. Let us study its objects and purposes. Let us see 
just what the fathers did intend. Sir, they intended that the 
people should rule this country. They did not intend that the 
creatures of the law should rule. They intended that the sov- 
ereign people should bo all powerful, and in their hands they 
vested all povrer except that which is especially delegated to 
Congress. 

Our fathers started out in this matter of Government-mak- 
ing. They were on a rough sea, I say. Their course was upon 
unknown waters. But, thank God, they wrote a great declara- 
tion. They wrote the most immortal document that has ever 
been conceived by the human mind, or that was ever penned 
by the human hand. What was that declaration, Mr. Presi- 
dent? What was that document? The great Declaration of 
Independence itself. That document declares certain immor- 
tal truths, the most important of wliich, in my judgment, are 
these: That document guarantees to us certain inalienable 
rights, rights that can not be transferred, rights that can not 
be alienated. These rights are life, liberty, and happiness. 
Did I quote that document correctly, Mr. President ? No, gen- 
tlemen, I misquoted it purposely, that I might call your atten- 
tion to its meaning. That great document declares that all 



114 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

men are created free and equal. When we come from the 
plastic hand of God we are all equal ; none better, none greater 
than another. It declares that we are endowed with these in- 
alienable rights — life, liberty, and happiness. I infer from 
that language that by "pursuit" our fathers meant that we 
might run after happiness; that we might chase happiness; 
that we might overtake it if we could. 

Happiness, sir, is a condition desired by all men, whether 
rich or poor, whether high or low. That is the ultimate ob- 
ject; that is the highest and best ambition of man — happiness. 
Our fathers did not guarantee to us happiness itself. They 
guaranteed to us the right to pursue happiness. I infer that 
that meant a fair pursuit, that that meant a fair race, that that 
meant a fair chase. I ask you, is that true in this Government 
today? It is not, Mr. President, in my humble judgment. The 
rich man's boy, the trust magnate's boy sails upon flowery 
beds of ease, while the boy of the laboring man from the very 
start of the race of life is handcuffed, manacled, and chained. 
I say the door of opportunity is not today open to all alike, 
as the law intended and as the law should be. 

Go \vdth me, please, to the shops and the field. Go with me 
to the laboring man. Wherever he goes to provide the neces- 
sities of life he is met by the tax-gatherer, sent by the trust 
magnate. The cotton on my shirt is produced by a trust. The 
leather in the shoes of my good-looking friend, Mr. Beveridge, 
of Indiana, is produced by a trust. The wool in this coat is 
produced by a trust. Everytliing that one can imagine, 
whether a necessity, a comfort, or a charity, is in a trust. Sir, 
the Holy Bible itself is in a trust, and when you hear the 
Chaplain read from that blessed book every morning, he reads 
from a book made by a trust. Everything that I can imagine 
is in a trust except acorns and persimmons. Those are all 
that are left for the poor people of this country. 

Mr. President, stop, study, and think where are we going, 
whither are we drifting, where is our Government tending! 
When the laboring man takes his bucket or his basket and 
goes to the beef shop to get his beef he pays tribute to Armour. 
When he goes to a wire or steel shop to get wire to make his 
fence or to get nails he pays tribute to the wire or the nail 
trust. When he goes to the coffin shop to get a coffin to bury 
his baby he pays tribute to the coffin trust. When he goes to 
church on Sunday he hears the words of the blessed God and 
listens to the divine doctrine expounded from a trust-made 
Bible. Has not the G. 0. P. got this country in a nice mess — 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 115 



the wealth of the country concentrated in the hands of a few 
men, the great masses, the niiglity millions, paying tribute! 
How true the declaration of Mr. Lincoln ; how well he foresaw 
and foreshadowed coming events. 

Mr. President, this is a great subject. Would that 1 had 
the power to handle it as ii justly deserves. The people of 
this great country are long-suffering and patient. Uod bless 
the laboring man of the country. God bless the man upon 
whose shoulders rest the burdens of the Government. He 
bears its burdens in times of peace. He supports and defends 
it in time of war. God bless the man with the hickory shirt 
and the overalls, who works, toils, and sweats. 

Mr. President, 1 tind in lioly Writ that the Master says 
work is honorable. The Master says: "Go into the vine- 
yard and work." I lind, nowhere, sir, a permission to go 
into the vineyard and corner all the grapes and become so rich 
and opulent that when the Master comes you can defy him 
and turn him from the garden. 

Sir, stop, study, think. Whither is our Government drifting 
today! H the trust magnates are not wiped olf the face of 
the earth; if they are not destroyed, instead of the Govern- 
ment prescribing the conditions upon which they may do busi- 
ness, they will be telling you directly how the Government 
shall do its business. Is that true or notf 

in. 

Would Send Trust Magnates to Prison. 

Mr. Littlefield gives about 400 industrial trusts, with a cap- 
ital amounting to something like $9,231,000,000. The trusts 
today are telling the Government how to do business instead 
of the Government telhng the trusts how to do business. It 
is said that "we lined Mr. iiockefeller at Chicago in the 
great prosecution there. ' ' Yes ; we did ; and Mr. Rockefeller's 
testimony, if properly reported by the newspapers of the 
country, amused me very much. Mr. Rockefeller said, "I do 
not know just exactly whether I am in a trust or not. I do 
not know whether my business bears the earmarks of a trust 
or not. In fact, if your honor please, I have not been in my 
place of business for a number of years." Sir, if you will 
pass this bill, if you will enact this penalty, prescribing a peni- 
tentiary sentence of not less than five nor more than twenty- 
one years, Mr. Rockefeller will go down to his business place 
every morning. [Laughter.] 



JJ6 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Fear of a penitentiary sentence is tiie most awakening thing 
on earth. It Vv^ill wake up Mr. Rockefeller. He will go down 
and say, "Boys, let us see about this thing. Have you really 
got a trust here?" What does he care for $29,000,000? By 
one simple twist of the wrist, by one simple manipulation in 
the trust market, he grinds from the American people twice 
$29,000,000 and goes off smiling. He has the smile that never 
wears olf. In order to ease his conscience he and some of the 
other trust magnates make large contributions to charities, 
thereby endeavoring to cover up the fact that they have taken 
the very money which they contribute from the toiling masses 
of the American people by a wrongful system of enforced con- 
tribution to their wealth. Sir, stop, study, think. The trusts 
are directing the Government today. The Government is not 
directing the trusts. We have but to go to the testimony of 
Mr. Harriman, the great railroad magnate, who tells us that 
he contributed $200,000 to the campaign fund in the last pres- 
idential campaign. It is true j\Ir. Cortelyou denies it, but I 
take it that the evidence is indisputable. But the trusts of 
the country are dictating the terms, not the Government. 

I hold in my hand a letter. I do not care to disclose its 
author, neither do I care to disclose to whom it is written, 
because it is a private communication ; but it is from a banker 
in my State and was w^ritten to an eastern bank. He wants to 
know if he can get some money — a sum of money that the bank 
itself had deposited in the eastern bank as a reserve to draw 
against. The eastern bank replies — this letter is under date 
of November 23 — "No; you can not get any money from us; 
not even your own money. Things are tight ; things are close. 
But we will go out into the market, and we will buy you some 
money at 3 or 4 per cent premium." 

^ Mr. President, stop and think of that for a minute. Eighty- 
nine minions of people — the greatest upon God's green earth 
— with a country abounding in natural resources that can not 
even be estimated or guessed at, much less computed ; a brave, 
courageous, generous people, with a Government established 
for their protection and their preservation, reduced to the 
mean and groveling necessity of going out and buying money 
— buying the thing which the Government should make ; buy- 
ing the thing w^hich the Government should control — buying 
money! Is it any wonder that our distinguished President, 
seeing the trend of the times, looking into the future, seeing 
the rocks of Scylla and Charybdis, seeing the danger to the 
old ship of state, took e€ the dollars the motto "In God we 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVJS 1)7 



trust F' It is time to take it oil. it is time to disconnect God 
Almiglity from tiie dollar when you Lave to go out and buy it. 
Wlio ever tiiouglit of HI Let the fathers in their spuit hover 
over this Government and protect it Ironi the money sharks 
who would destroy and uproot it. Buying money ! 1 want to 
meet some iiepublican ^Senator before the most elite audience 
of the Jilast some time and discuss the proposition of the 
Grand Old Jr'arty buying money. Oh, we have come to our last 
extremity. 'Ihe trusts are controlling the Government. The 
iruaib are running it. 

1 ao not want any money that i have to buy. i do not like 
that Kind oi money, i want money issueu as tne uonsuLUuon 
01 tms union aeciares it snaii ue issuea — uy tne uovernment 
ilbeii — ana circuiaLea among its people. 1 ao not want any 
trust money, i wonaer wnat Liie urand Old rarty is going to 
put on tne dollar, ihey do not trust m Uod any more. 1 
wonder m wliom they ao trust. fi^augnter.J i wonaer where 
you are going, geniiemen, to get your trust. lHai is tlie big- 
gest trust 1 ever heard ol. 

Mr. I'resident, there is another combination. 1 am taking 
up more time witn these brief remarks than 1 intended in tne 
beginmng. There is another combination that is cioseiy amed 
to tne trust evil, it is a voluntary association of persons, not 
incorporated, and it does noi come strictly within tlie logal 
demiiLion oi a trust, but its operations and its tendencies are 
just as harmful and just as hurtful, and while it could not be 
brougnt strictly under the provisions of this bill, should it 
become a law, still the trust question can not be discussed 
w^ithout discussing its twin sister — the stock exchanges of 
New York and the great cotton exchange, if you please. 

From Mr. Moody's Alanual of Industrial and Miscellaneous 
Securities 1 find that the IStock Exchange of New York is a 
voluntary association and not incorporated. I iind, sir, that 
they have eleven hundred seats there — never more, never less. 
I hnd that these seats sell at varying prices. They sold in 
1870 as low as $14,000. They sold in Ib^Jo as high as $y5,000. 
They have sold at $84,000, they have sold at $38,000, and they 
have sold at other amounts. 

What is a seat on this board of exchange, Mr. President? 
It is an opportunity to get on the ground floor for the purpose 
of controUing the price of the commodities of this country. 
That comes very nearly being a trust. That very nearly 
comes mider the prohibitions of this bill. 



118 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

In the Stock Exchange of New York eleven hundred men 
pay as high as $yo,UUU tor their seats, for what^ To pilfer 
and rob tne people of the country of their products. 

yir, 1 hail from that section of the fc)0utiiiand where cotton 
is king, (iod Almighty has given us a corner on the greatest 
commodity upon the face of the earth — cotton, i, sir, would 
like to take you today in your imagination to the cotton helds 
of my section. There i could show you little children not 
larger than that little page, thinly clad, on frosty, cold, freez- 
ing mormngs picking cotton with their httle frosty hands. 
JSir, those cmldren are just as dear to the hearts of their 
parents as are your cinldreii dear to you and as my children 
are dear to me. 

Do we in the South control the price of this product! Have 
we the power to control iti 1 answer no. it is controlled 
absolutely by the stock gamblers and by the thieves of Wall 
Street. 

Mr. President, 75 per cent — yes, 90 per cent — of the busi- 
ness of that exchange is purely speculative or gambling busi- 
ness. Knock out the speculative feature, destroy the gambhng 
privilege, and the cotton exchange dies of its own weight. 

Mr. President, at some other day at this session of Con- 
gress I hope to introduce a bill having for its object and its 
purpose the destruction of that great evil, and I hope that it 
may have at least the respectful consideration of the majority 
of this body. 

Sir, do the parents of the httle children in the South control 
the price of this product/ Do they control the price of cotton? 
I say, sir, to you they have got no more to do with it than an 
unborn babe, except that they make the crop and carry it to 
market. 

Who controls the price? These fellows just over here in 
Wall Street. The stock gamblers do it. 

We raised last year in round numbers 13,000,000 bales of 
cotton. The stock exchange of New York sold from six to ten 
times as much. Seventy-live milHon bales is the lowest esti- 
mate I have seen. Yet I am told that this manipulation of this 
board of exchange does not control the price of this com- 
modity. I say it does. 

Ah, sir, thank God the laborers of this country are organiz- 
ing today. From Maine to California, from Cape Cod to Kala- 
mazoo, they are getting ready for a fight. This is going to be 
a great fight. It is an unequal fight. Upon the one hand we 
have trained men, we have trained financiers, we have money. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 119 

we have wealth. On tlio other hand, we have the poor of the 
earth, witli all the best of the earth at last, but untrained and 
unskilled in this character of warfare. 

Ah, Mr. President, this is goini^ to be a fi.c^ht, and I hope the 
day will soon come when we can see the stock gamblers of New 
York in felon's stripes. Why, sir, the penitentiary house 
would be a summer resort as compared mth what they ought 
to have if they had their just deserts. 

Do you tell me that those men do not control the price of 
our products? The man who asserts that brings down on his 
own head the ridicule and the contempt of the stock gambler 
himself, because that is their boast. That is what they claim. 
What they want to be known as doing is controlling the mar- 
ket. Knock out their gambling, I say, and they drop of their 
own weight. 

Ah, Mr. President, in the southland we are organizing. We 
are organizing fast. We are organizing quick. We are de- 
manding of the powers that be that the poor people of the 
earth shall have a just recognition of their rights in the great 
administration of public affairs. Sir, I would that the labor- 
ing people would organize all over this land, no matter 
whether on the great railroad thoroughfares, in the printing 
offices, in the shops, in the factories, or on the farms. God 
speed the day when their organization will prove so strong 
that Senators on this floor will turn to them eager and anxious 
to know their desires and washes. 

As I know, the best way on earth to control a politician is 
just to get the public behind him. I know two or three men 
down in my State who have absolutely worn the right ear 
nearly off holding it to the ground listening for the expression 
of public sentiment. I say when the labor organizations of 
this great country get to that point where they can command 
respect, then there will be a change in the sentiment of this 
august body. 

Ah, Mr. President, I am for the under dog in every fight. 
I do not care what kind of a dog fight it is. You can just pick 
out your kind of dog, and every time you see a dog fight you 
may just swear that Jeff Dn\ds is for the under dog in that 
fight. I am for him every time. 

Sir, I hope the day will come when these labor organizations 
may be strong enough to cope "^^^th this great evil. We of the 
South are starting right. We are organizing. We are getting 
together. We are demanding just recognition, and I believe 
we are going to get it. 



120 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Sir, this panic, in my humble judgment, started by the trust 
magnates and their coconspirators and confederates, the stock 
gamblers, had no other object and no other purpose than to 
wrongfully take from the cotton producers of the South half 
of their property. They are trying to do it. You can not get 
money. You have got to buy money, you have got to buy cot- 
ton, you have got to buy products, you have got to buy every- 
thing from the trusts. I say, sir, it is an unequal fight. 

May I get one ray of hope from the Republican side on this 
question? Is there one Senator on the other side who will 
dare to face their expressed policy and the public declaration 
of the Republican party and step across the line and give his 
hand and say he will help to fight this battle? Ah, sir, this is 
a just cause. It is a just fight. 

Sir, I wish to refer to the Standard Oil for just a moment, 
and will leave the stock question for that purpose. The Stan- 
dard Oil of course is the old he-trust of the country. It is the 
one that has all the paraphernalia and the earmarks of a trust. 
I dislike Standard Oil. I hate the smell of coal oil. Petroleum 
makes me sick. 

Sir, I ask today that something be done to curtail the great 
power of this monster trust, Mr. John D. Rockefeller's trust, 
the great Standard Oil Trust. 

Repeating, I say that this panic had for its object and its 
purpose the taking of our crops away from us. What have we 
got down in the South? I appeal to every Southern Senator, 
aye, I appeal to every Southern man to stand ready for this 
fight. The poor laboring men of the South today are organ- 
izing. They are trying to stem the tide. They are trvdng to 
resist the force. They are trying to command a decent price 
for their products. They ask by petition, they ask by memo- 
rial, they ask through their Representatives that the Congress 
of the United States, their sworn servants, shall come to their 
assistance. 

God bless the people of the South, my home land God bless 
the people of Arkansas. Mr. President, I never expect to hold 
an office that shall not be given to me by the people of my na- 
tive State. I never expect to hold an office that shall not be 
given to me by their generous hands. 

When I speak the name of Arkansas, sir, I am swept with 
a flood of memories. It carries me back to my home with my 
wife and babies. It carries me back to the fields and the farms 
and the shops. It carries me back to a people as brave, as 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVJS 121 

loyal, as true, and withal as intelligent as any people who live 
upon God's green earth. 

They today ask for a respectful consideration of the bill that 
I introduce. 1 may present it awkwardly, 1 may present it 
without the necessary dignilied address of Senatorial dec- 
orum, but, sir, the meat is there, the thing is there, and 1 want 
to know if the Republicans of this Nation can afford to go 
before the country in the great contest that is now on and say 
by their action on this great subject, '*We do not intend to 
harm the trusts ; we do not intend to disturb them ; we do not 
want to disturb business." Can you afford to do it, gentle- 
men f Are you going to do it? 

Is this bill going to be put to sleep! Shall that be its fate? 
Oh, if you do, I say to you today that as long as I have the 
honor to occupy this seat, as a peer of any Senator on this 
floor, this bill shall rise from its ashes; this bill shall rise to 
fret you, and you had just as well dispose of it now. You had 
just as well defeat it now, because you have got to beat it at 
last. You have got to beat it finally. If you want to go to the 
country with your publicly expressed declaration that you are 
in favor of killing trusts, and if you want to leave that pledge 
unredeemed, then I challenge any Senator from Maine to 
California, no matter where he is from, if he will get an audi- 
ence of his own people intelligent enough to consider the 
merits of this bill, and there, sir, I will meet him, and we will 
fight this question out before his own constituents. 

This is the bill which I present, sir, and I ask that it be 
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. 

The Vice President : The bill will be referred to the Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SENATOR DAVIS'S SPEECH AT OZARK. 

In a speech delivered at Ozark, February 18, 1908, in tlie 
interest of Judge W. F. Kirby for Governor, Senator Davis 
said: 

I. 

Anti-Trust Law. 

For the last six years I have fought for an effective, force- 
ful anti-trust law in Arkansas, and for its honest and faithful 
enforcement. By your help and assistance my efforts were 
finally crowned with success. The Legislature of our State 
in 1905 enacted just such a law as we demanded, and the 
Supreme Court of our State sustained their enactment, but 
the enemies of the people, never slothful, always watchful 
for an opportunity to destroy whatever reforms may be 
accomplished, set about in an insidious, underhanded, clandes- 
tine way to destroy this law, and in 1907 we witnessed in 
our Legislature the most shameful violation of party pledges 
and Democratic precedents that has ever occurred in any 
State of this Union — the anti-trust law, which was written 
upon your statute books almost in blood itself, was torn into 
shreds, demolished, trampled upon by the subsidized press of 
this State and by the hired minions of corporate wealth. 
Before that foul and dastardly crime was committed by your 
Legislature, I met them in their assembly hall and warned 
them that the people of this State would rise up in their 
wrath and demand an accounting of their stewardship, and 
I swore then that their doings should be known, and I am 
here today to make that promise good. Ah, my friends, since 
this anti-trust law went on the statute books of our State, 
there has never been an honest effort made to enforce it, 
except by our present Attorney General. It has been bar- 
tered and sold, and hawked and peddled, hoping thereby to 
make it a stench in the nostrils of the people, hoping that the 
treachery and perfidy of your legislators who violated their 
party pledges might in some measure be overshadowed and 
forgotten, and in a measure condoned. Ah, gentlemen, I 
^vish you could have been at that Legislature. I wish you 
could have seen the maneuvers of the trust agents and trust 
heelers, working for the destruction of that law — the great- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 123 

est, in my judgment, that has ever been written on our stat- 
ute books, or on the statute books of any State in this Union. 
The trust agents were there — the trust heelers were there. 
Their mode of operation was somewhat changed from tliat 
employed by them in 1905. The services of Tom Cox and 
M. D. L. Cook, the noted boodlers and corruptionists of 1905, 
were dispensed with, and the so-called great lawyers of Lit- 
tle Rock were hired to influence, to cajole and to wheedle 
them into the destruction of this great law. 

Rooms were fitted up at the Hotel Marion in the city of 
Little Rock, with champagne, whiskey and cigars; legislators 
forgot their people, legislators closed their eyes to their 
duty — they struck the fatal blow; they destroyed the law. 
Gentlemen, I come to you today and ask you, and I ask the 
sovereign voters of this entire State, to look up the record of 
every man in the Arkansas Legislature, whether in the Sen- 
ate or in the House, that voted for the Lee-Browning bill in 
1907, and see to it that they shall never again disgrace Ark- 
ansas in our halls of legislation. Friends, we have fought 
too hard, we have contended too long, we have accomplished 
too much, to have it ruthlessly stolen from us in the night 
time by a crowd of freebooters as wilful and determined as 
any band of pirates that ever sailed the high seas, and I come 
to you today to warn you against a repetition of this crime. 
The trust question, gentlemen and fellow-citizens, is the 
greatest question before the American people today. It will 
be the great leading issue in the national campaign, and 
upon its correct solution and proper presentation the Demo- 
cratic Party, in my judgment, must win or lose the coming 
fight which means so much for the welfare of our country at 
large. Gentlemen, I promised you if you elected me to the 
United States Senate that I would let the trust magnates and 
trust agents know that I w^as in town when I got to Washing- 
ton, and I come today to give you an accounting of my stew- 
ardship thus far performed. On the second day of advent 
into the Senate I introduced an anti-trust bill that will exter- 
minate this great ev\\, if it shall be put into force and effect, 
and on the 11th day of December, nine days after T had been 
inducted into office, I beai'ded the lion in his den, the Douglas 
in his hall, and gave the trust interest of this country such 
a drubbing on the floor of that august body as they shall not 
soon forget. Ah, my friends, as your public servant I am in 
WashinG:ton striving and working day and night to carry into 
national legislation the great principles of government for 



124 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

which we have fought so hard at home. While I am away 
shall these great principles be repudiated at home? Shall 
my influence and usefulness be crippled and destroyed? I 
come back to you today to plead with you to hold up my 
hands; yet the press of Little Rock would muzzle me, a few 
politicians would muzzle me; they say that Jeff Davis must 
not speak to his people; that he will deceive them, that he 
will misguide them. Ah, gentlemen, they know full well that 
if the people are properly advised and properly awakened on 
this great question, their chances for despoiling and tearing 
down the work we have thus far accomplished will be de- 
stroyed. The Arkansas Gazette, in a lengthy editorial of 
recent date, charges that I am only trying to strengthen my 
hold upon the people of the State of Arkansas and perpetu- 
ate myself in office. 

n. 

Guns Turned On Jeff Davis. 

Gentlemen, the opposition in the present campaign have 
turned their guns upon me. The fight is now waged, and the 
declaration openly and publicly made that if they can get 
charge of the State Government for the next four years they 
will then defeat me for my seat in the Senate. But, my 
friends, I am not awed by this threat. I know full well that 
my political life has been one continuous warfare from the 
time I started, and that it must be a warfare to the end. I 
know that the enemies of good government in Arkansas would 
destroy me if they could. I know that if I should sit quietly 
in my place and raise no hand against their machinations 
they would devour me as would a pack of hungry wolves. 
My friends, I thank God that this office was given to me by 
the poor man who toils, who labors, who earns his bread as 
God commanded, in the sweat of his face; the kindest, gen- 
tlest, truest people on God's green footstool, and when they 
demand that I shall surrender back to them the senatorial 
toga I will return it, just as I did the Governor's office, as 
pure and as clean as when they delivered it to me. 

I defy this whole gang of high-collared roosters that are 
today seeking my undoing. I challenge them to the contest — 
I wdll meet them before the bar of public opinion and there 
fight out the issues involved in this campaign. I will not sit 
quietly in my seat in Washington and allow the work that I 
have been endeavoring to perform in the interest of the peo- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 125 

pie for the past six years to be destroyed by them. Ah, Mr. 
Chairman and ^ontlemon, they say that I should not raise 
ray voice in the interest of Mr. Kirby for Governor; they say 
that this is intermeddling — that tliis is interloping — that the 
result of his election does not concern me. On one band, gen- 
tlemen and fellow-citizens, they charge Mr. Kirby with being 
the Jeff Davis candidate ; they brand him with what they con- 
sider to be a stigma, and by this they hope to array every 
anti-Jeff Davis man in Arkansas against him; then, when I 
raise my voice and ask my friends to rally to his assistance, 
to his support, the subsidized press of this State would raise 
its hands in holy horror, and say, ''You are meddling in State 
politics — it is none of your fight." 

Ah, my friends, I hope the day will never come in Arkansas 
when the welfare of the people of my native State shall cease 
to concern me, when the cause of the people and good govern- 
ment will not elicit my most earnest endeavor — my very best 
efforts. I want to say to my friends throughout the State 
of Arkansas that W. F. Kirby is the only candidate in this 
race for Governor who has ever been my personal or political 
friend. I want to say to my friends that he is the only can- 
didate in the race who would carry out the policies and princi- 
ples of government which I have inaugurated and which I 
yet hope to see succeed, despite the efforts of the despoilers. 
I want to say to my friends throughout the State that he is 
the only candidate in the race for Governor who is really 
and truly the friend of the common people of the State. I 
want to say to the people of this State that William F. Kirby 
is an honest, clean, pure, courageous man, that will make 
Arkansas one of the best Governors that ever occupied the 
executive chair. 

ni. 

George W. Donaghey and Ben Griffin. 

If you have to beat Will Kirby, preserve the Farmers' 
Union. It has been said that your State Secretary, ^fr. 
Griffin, is attempting to control this splendid order to pro- 
mote the candidacy of George W. Donaghey for Governor, 
It has been said that he has been hired to deliver the votes 
of the Farmers' Union to this man for Governor. Whether 
that be true, or false, I know not, but I do know, my friends, 
that Mr. Griffin is in close touch with the men that compose 
this union, and I do know that he publicly says that he, indi- 



126 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

vidually, is espousing the cause of George W. Donaghey, but 
that he is not doing it officially, as secretary of the union. 
Gentlemen, if you can separate Mr. Griffin individually from 
Mr. Griffin's official personage, then I w^ould be glad if some 
gentleman would give me the distinction. 

Ben Griffin, today, is trying to turn the Farmers' Union 
vote from its natural and normal channel to the support of 
Mr. Donaghey. Strange, indeed, it is, my fellow-citizens, if 
this is not true, that every Farmers' Union man in Arkansas 
has a copy of Donaghey 's speech. Where did he get your 
name and where did he get your postoffice address? Things 
don't happen in this world by chance, gentlemen; but I thank 
God that Ben Griffin can't deliver the Farmers' Union to 
George Donaghey. I thank God that there are true and 
noble men in this great order that Avill not be driven like 
sheep to the shambles to be sheared, but will stand up like 
patriotic men and vote for the best interests of the country. 
If Ben Griffin is permitted to control and dominate your 
union, and turn it to the political advantage of any one, or 
any candidate, then I say, gentlemen, the sooner you get rid 
of the union the better it will be for the country; but I have 
encouraging news from all parts of the State that the Farm- 
ers' Union men are finding out Mr. Donaghey; they are find- 
ing out Mr. Griffin, and they are finding out that an attempt 
is being made to prostitute this great order for political pur- 
poses, and, like rats deserting a sinking ship, they are leav- 
ing the camp of Donaghey. 

Who is Mr. Donaghey that he should receive the support 
of the Farmers' Union? Ah, my friends, I believe in unions. 
I believe that the laborers of this country, whether in the 
shops, at the carpenter's bench, upon the railroad trains, in 
the mines or wherever they may be, have the right to organ- 
ize. I believe that it is their solemn duty to organize for 
their own protection and against the tyrannical oppression 
of capital. There should be a brotherly unity of action and 
sentiment between the various organizations of labor, no mat- 
ter what their avocation may be. Capital is organized, and 
if labor does not resist its encroachment it will be bound and 
shackled, handcuffed and crushed: so I say, let the laboring 
men of this country organize, and organize quick. 

George W. Donaghey is a contractor by profession; I 
charge, and it can not be successfully denied, that he has 
never yet in any contract that he has ever had employed 
union labor as his workmen. He is not in sympathy with 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 127 

union labor. His every act has been against organized labor. 
He recently erected for himself two magnificent brick build- 
ings in the city of Little Ro.ck. He has erected for the 
various railroads of this State depots and public buildings, 
and on this work he has uniformly employed nonunion labor, 
and absolutely refused to give a union man a day's work, 
and that, too, simply because he w^as a union man. He is 
trying to make the farmers of this State believe that he is a 
friend of the farmers' organization, when he is the enemy of 
their brother laborers' organizations. 

And I see in the press of the State a statement emanating 
from Ben Griffin's paper at Conway, saying that when I made 
a speech there in my race for the Senate I characterized 
George Donaghey as *' Honest George Donaghey." I don't 
characteri'ze him now as dishonest, gentlemen. It is stated 
further in this article that 'I should have said in that speech 
that he saved the taxpayers of this State $800,000 in the 
attempted Statehouse steal. Gentlemen, I say to you today 
that never such words as these escaped my lips on this earth, 
and I brand the statement as absolutely false. I could not 
have said that and told the truth, because George Donaghey 
did not save the State $800,000 in the attempted Statehouse 
steal, nor any other sum of money. Before he ever raised 
his voice in this matter, I w^as fighting these Statehouse 
thieves on the public hustings, in the courts of the country 
and in the Legislature. He w'as on the State Capitol Board 
when I became Governor; I saw that he had an itching palm 
to get charge of the Statehouse contract; I saw that he had 
a desire to be the contractor on that great building, and I 
know that in 1903 he put in a bid for the erection of the 
Statehouse, under the name and style of "Donaghey Con- 
struction Company." 

Ah, my friends, who composed the Donaghey Construction 
Company? I charge today that it was composed of George 
W. Donaghey, Henry Ligram, his relative in Conway; Oscar 
Davis, the cashier of the German National Bank of Little 
Rock; W. W. Dickinson, one of the lessees of the convicts of 
Arkansas, and Thomas L. Cox, the old he-boodler and grafter 
of this Slate. Articles of agreement were drawn up, but 
never ])erfected. Donaghey was to have the majority of the 
stock; Dickinson, Davis and Henry Ingram were to have a 
certain per cent of the stock. Tom Cox w^as to receive his 
stock absolutely for nothing. For what was he to be used, 
my friends? By Mr. Donaghey. Legislation must be influ- 



28 THE LIFE OF SENATd JEFF DAVIS 



enced — Cox was a handy man to have as a partner. Dona- 
ghey failed to get the contract and his construction company 
was never perfected, never organized. Immediately he got 
a ''sore toe," and he has been growhng and fussing and fum- 
ing ever since about the Statehouse, following along in my 
tracks in a blind, uncertain, disconnected way, evidencing a*t 
every state of the proceedings that he was mad because he 
didn't get the contract to construct the building. 

Then, seeing that pubUc sentiment had turned this infa- 
mous steal, that I told you four years ago would remain as a 
stench in the nostrils of the people of this State, he leaps 
upon this tide of public disfavor, hoping that it may safely 
bear him to the executive chair. Gentlemen of the Farmers' 
Union, Donaghey is not your friend. He boasts today that 
he is worth $500,000; that he began fifteen years ago as a 
hod-carrier, and claims that he made his money as the fruits 
of honest, legitimate toil. If he has made five hundred thou- 
sand dollars in fifteen years, he has skinned somebody, hasn't 
he? He hasn't made his money off the poor people of the 
country, because they had no contracts to let, but he has made 
his money off the rich people of the land, and if elected Gov- 
ernor, fellow-citizens, he would look up to the rich and opu- 
lent — the men who have given him his wealth. He would be 
as perfectly controlled by the ringsters and politicians of 
Little Rock, the Board of Trade, and George Russ Brown, 
as your little boy would be controlled by you, or my little 
boy controlled by me. Ah, my friends, I ask you to stop, 
study, think before this great calamity overtakes my native 
State. 

George W. Donaghey should not be your Governor. He is 
flooding the State \\ith his literature, written by paid attor- 
neys, not wilhng to meet his opponents on the stump in open, 
fair discussion, claiming that he is no orator or public 
speaker, yet he sHps and slides from place to place and with- 
out his opponents present, discusses, what he claims to be, 
the issues of the campaign. Gentlemen, I say to you today 
that I would not vote for any man for any office who did not 
have the manhood, courage and ability to meet his oppo- 
nents face to face before his constituents and there fight out 
the issues between them. Stop, study, think, my friends, 
where are we going, whither are we drifting. I have no per- 
sonal grievance with him. Some of his friends have been my 
warmest friends and most ardent supporters, but I know if 
he should be elected to this high office that the opposition will 




JUDGE W. F. KIRBY. 

Attorney General of Arkansas, Associate Justice of Arkansas 

Supreme Court, and Political I.eader Whose Cause as 

a Candidate for Governor Jeff Davis Espoused in a 

Sensational Campaign in Which George W. 

Donaghey Was Elected. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAYJS 129 

have captured the State Government, and will laugh you to 
scorn alter you have made your mistake. 

A little story in Grecian mythology illustrates to my mind 
more perfectly than anything i can recall the candidacy of 
George W. Donaghey. it is said when the Greeks attempted 
to capture Troy and were unsuccessful they made a great 
wooden horse and filled it with armed Greek soldiers, left it 
upon the shores just outside the gates of Troy, and the Gre- 
cian fleet sailed aw^ay as if abandoning the conflict. The 
Trojans, firmly entrenched within the walls, having resisted 
every onslaught of the Greeks, saw them depart, leaving this 
curious evidence of their handiwork. Led on by curiosity 
alone, the Trojans ventured out and examined this wooden 
horse, and in order that the people within the walls might 
see and examine it they rolled it inside their gates. The 
sides of the old horse began to swell and vibrate, secret hinges 
and locks sprung loose, and the armed Greek soldiers hid 
within sprang out full panoplied for the fray, sounded the 
signal for their friends to return, threw wide the gates and 
despoiled that fair city. Now, I want to say to the Farmers ' 
Union in this State that the ringsters and tricksters, trust 
heelers and trust magnates of Arkansas have left poor old 
George Donaghey standing solitary and alone just outside 
the Farmers' Union gates, hoping that curiosity may lead 
you to carry him into your fold and into the Governor 's office, 
but I warn you that if this stalking horse of these interests 
ever crosses the executive threshold you will see creep from 
beneath the fold of his garments faces that haven't been seen 
in the Governor's oflfice for six years; people that have been 
out of the breastworks; people that have sworn that Jeff 
Davis and Jeff Davisism must be destroyed. First to come 
forth will be Col. Joseph W. House ; next^ W. E. Hemingway, 
the wet-nurse of the last Legislature; then will come George 
Russ Brown, who says that the Farmers' Union is a calam- 
ity to Arkansas; then will come the penitentiary gang; then 
will come the railroad interests; then will come the trust 
heelers and the trust magnates; and, looking away up in the 
burr of the ear of the great horse wdll be found poor little 
X. 0. Pindall, the mouthpiece and representative of the peni- 
tentiary interests in Arkansas. 

Gentlemen, don't be deceived — don't be fooled by this stalk- 
ing horse. Stop before it is too late — stop before the enemy 
shall capture the citadel; stop before the gates are thrown 
wide open and the city destroyed. 



J30 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

In 1903, when Donaghey put in his bid to build the State 
Capitol, no one ever thought that he would be the Cfovernor 
of Arkansas, or ever dreamed for a moment that he would 
be a candidate for this high office ; hence there was no secret 
made, and no reason for secrecy, as to who were to be his 
partners m this contract, provided he got it, and it was thor- 
oughly understood in the city of Little kock and openly 
talked on the streets that his partners were to be Henry 
Ingram of Conway, Oscar Davis, cashier of the Grerman Na- 
tional Bank of Little Eock, who was to finance the atfair; 
W. W. Dickinson, the penitentiary convict lessee, who was 
to furnish the brick and material, and Tom Cox, who was to 
control the Legislature. Of course, Donaghey didn't get the 
contract and the articles of agreement between these men 
were never fully perfected. 

Ah, my fellow-citizens, I call your attention to the denial 
which Donaghey has recently published as to this matter. 
Mark his language. He says he never was a partner with 
Tom Cox in any transaction, and that if he were a partner 
with Cox he ought to be defeated for Governor. Of course, 
in the abstract he tells the truth in this statement — he never 
was the real partner of Cox, because his bid to build the State 
house M^as never accepted, and the contract between him and 
Cox and his associates was not completed; but he does not 
say in his denial that there was not an understanding and 
contract that he was to be a partner with Cox, Dickinson and 
Davis if his bid had been successful and he had received this 
job. Mr. Donaghey now admits very nearly this whole trans- 
action in private conversation with reputable men, whose 
names I can give on demand, that he did put in a bid to build 
the State Capitol, under the name of the Donaghey Construc- 
tion Company. He admits that Henry Ingram, at Conway, 
was to be his partner, also Oscar Davis of the German Na- 
tional Bank and W. W. Dickinson, of the brick contract noto- 
riety, and admits further that Davis suggested to him the 
propriety of having Tom Cox associated mth them for the 
purpose of controlling legislation. Of course, he says he 
scornfully refused this suggestion of Davis, but my friends, 
would you expect him to plead guilty to this charge — would 
you expect him to admit his connection \vith the boodlers of 
Arkansas? If he did admit it — if he should plead guilty, he 
had as well go home and quit this race, because the people 
of this State will never vote for any man whose skirts arc 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 131 

contaminated by association with Tom Cox, or any of his 
boodling gang. 

Ah, my friends, why didn't Mr. Donaghey come out and 
unbosom himself as to this whole transaction? Why has it 
been necessary for me to disclose these facts in this connec- 
tion? In his denial, when Mr. McFarlane made this charge, 
why didn't he tell the whole facts in the case? Why does he 
sit back and flippantly say, ''I am worth $500,000; I make 
this statement, and, if you don't think it is true, sue me. 
Any judgment that can be obtained against me would be 
good," flaunting his money and his wealth in the face of the 
people, when he ought to take them into his confidence and 
tell them the whole truth about this matter. This is too im- 
portant a matter, my friends, to pass by with a wave of the 
hand; this is too important a matter for Mr. Donaghey to 
expect the people of the State to accept his theory, simply 
upon his mere denial. If McFarlane has told a lie on him, 
then McFarlane says he will accept service of summons, and 
answer within five days, and bring into court Davis and Dick- 
inson, and his other partners and prove the truthfulness of 
the assertion, but I don't need McFarlane 's word to tell you 
that this is true. 

You say, what proof have you of it, Governor? I chal- 
lenge Mr. Donaghey to get an affidavit from Oscar Davis or 
Hon. M. A. Austin, an attorney at Pine Bluff, both honorable 
business men that will not lie, that these facts are not true. 
They both know that they are true and will swear it in court ; 
and, besides, I tell you that I was Governor of the State of 
Arkansas at that time, and I knew pretty generallv what was 
going on around Little Rock with reference to the State Capi- 
tol. I tell you that it was public talk, and never denied by 
Mr. Donaghey until he became a candidate for Governor, 
when it was to his interest to deny — it meant his defeat if 
he did not deny it. Ah, my friends, I tell you that you are 
treading on dangerous ground when you elevate this man 
to the high office of Governor and place in his hands the 
power and prestige of this great position. 

IV. 

Pays His Eespects to Governor Pindall. 

Referring to Governor Pindall in his speech, he said: 
He goes further than this. He holds a secret meeting at 
Memphis with the representatives of 0. C. Ludwig, Secre- 



132 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

tary of State, and other officials and brings before them the 
local politicians of several counties in Eastern Arkansas, 
where the Republicans and Independents are strong, and 
says to these politicians who are candidates for office, "If 
you don 't bow down and worship at the shrine of Donaghey — 
if you don't draw your knife and stab to death Kirby and 
his friends in your several counties, Mr. Ludwig and I, who 
are a majority of the board to appoint election commission- 
ers, will appoint such commissioners as will count you out 
and defeat you in the September election. It is well known 
to everybody that a few counties in Eastern Arkansas are 
doubtful in the September election as between the Independ- 
ent and Republican and the straight Democratic ticket if inde- 
pendent voters should unite with the radicals. Pindall, in 
order to intimidate the timid office-holders of these particu- 
lar counties, used his official lash and the lash of 0. C. Lud- 
wig, threatening their downfall and destruction if Kirby were 
elected in their counties. 

In certain counties in Eastern Arkansas whiskey is counted 
in or counted out at will, and he openly threatens that he 
and Ludwig will appoint such commissioners as will best 
serve their purpose on the liquor question if Kirby isn't 
defeated. Don't this look railroady to you, fellow-citizens? 
Ah, my friends, I am deeply interested in the St. Francis 
Levee District, and some of the warmest, truest, best friends 
I ever had in my life live in this great basin. I would not 
do one thing to hurt them, or their political fortunes, and I 
don't believe that they will be sold like slaves upon the block 
to satisfy the whims of any man. 

Since I have been your representative in the National Con- 
gress I have attempted to make good my promise that the 
Government should take charge of the levee interests of East- 
ern Arkansas; shall pay the debt the people have contracted 
for this great improvement and that the Government shall 
maintain and support these levees at her own expense, and I 
have entered a bill to this effect, and I frankly and candidly 
say to you, today, that this is a new idea, that some of the 
Senators interested along that great Fathers of Waters, and 
while I may not be able to pass my bill at this session of 
Congress, because the Republicnns, as is their custom, get 
foxy just before the Presidential election and do as little as 
possible to jeopardize their chances of winning in that great 
contest. But I mil put into the fight to pass this bill the 
same energy and persistence that has characterized my efforts 



THE LIFE OF SEANTOR JEFF DAVIS 133 

as your Governor, and I hope and believe that my efforts will 
be crowned with success. 

How much better is this for the taxpayers of Eastern 
Arkansas? Already thoir property is burdened with a tax 
of eight cents per acre and a heavy debt of a million dollars 
hangs over their heads as a lien upon their homes itself. 
Gentlemen, the great Mississippi River is a public thorough- 
fare, is the great artery of trade and commerce. The move- 
ment that has been set on foot by the Deep Waterway Con- 
vention that has been held at various times and places has 
called to the attention of the National Congress the impor- 
tance of this great highway. My colleague, Senator James 
P. Clarke, is a member of the Commerce Committee of the 
Senate, which has the matter of the appropriation for the 
improvement of this great thoroughfare in their hands and 
control, and I know his sentiments along this line so well 
that I feel safe in speaking for him, that he will bend his 
every energy and every effort, not only for large appropria- 
tions for river improvements, but is heartil}^ in accord 
with the idea presented by my bill. Gentlemen, while I am 
in Washington as jour representative fighting for these great 
principles, working to carry out your wishes in this behalf, 
will you see my efforts thwarted, will you see my energy and 
endeavor crippled, will you see my hopes and aspirations 
destroyed by allowing such a man as X. 0. Pindall to barter 
and trade off your birthright, to bulldoze and browbeat your 
citizens into humble submission to his dictates, when that dic- 
tation leads you into the camp of the penitentiary crowd of 
Arkansas? It leads you into the camp of the railroad inter- 
est, and forces you to vote for a candidate who will feel him- 
self under obligation to these influences and will be compelled 
to carry out their mandate. 

Gentlemen, individual voters of the St. Francis Levee 
Basin, stop, study, think, before it shall be everlastingly too 
late. 

Another matter, fellow-citizens, to which I desire to call 
your attention is this '^Sister" Hinemon has no chance in 
this race. If I were cartooning him, I would present him 
holding a negro baby in his arms with a placard across his 
back, *' Exempt from taxes." Bob McFarlane is not even in 
the running and will not even be an ''also ran." The con- 
test in this race is between Bill Kirby, on the one hand, and 
George Donaghey on the other. 



134 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

V. 

An Appeal foe Judge Kikby. 

Ah, my friends, I hope the day will never come in Arkan- 
sas when the welfare of the people of my native State shall 
cease to concern me; when the cause of the people and good 
government will not elicit my most earnest endeavor — my 
very best efforts. 

The farmers of Arkansas have always been my friends; 
they know that through thick and thin I have been their 
friend; they know that I have stood the ridicule, the jeers 
and the taunts of the press of Arkansas and the trust mag- 
nates and the trust agents and have fought^ their battles 
against odds which at times seemed overwhelming. 

Ah, my friends, I am told that the Farmers' Union of Ark- 
ansas is against Mr. Kirby. T am told that the tillers of the 
soil are against him. Of all the men on earth that ought to 
support him, these are the men; they should give him their 
hearty support, their hearty endorsement. He has done more 
in one swoop for this good order of the Farmers' Union 
than any other candidate in this race could do in a thousand 
years. He has sustained our laws that has driven from our 
borders these vampires that suck the very life-blood from the 
toiling masses of the earth. 

We are to have a Presidential campaign in this good year 
of 1908. The Republicans will meet at Chicago and nomi- 
nate, in my judgment, Theodore Roosevelt for a third term. 
The Democrats will meet in the far West in July and nomi- 
nate that matchless leader, that fearless champion of the peo- 
ple's rights, William J. Bryan, of Nebraska. The lines will 
be drawn, the choice will be made. Ah, my friends, the Re- 
publicans already have their eyes on Arkansas, not with the 
hopes, perhaps, of capturing it from the Democratic column, 
but with the hope of largely reducing our Democratic 
strength. 

Who are the Democratic candidates that now seek the 
nomination that best carry Democratic flags'? Wlio are the 
Democratic candidates for Governor who best represent the 
Democratic Party, not only in Arkansas but of the Nation 
itself? William F. Kirby, my friends, the friend of the 
plain, common people of this State. Gentlemen, do you want 
the flag of Democracy to trail in the dust? Do you want to 
feel humiliated and discourasred in the next campaisrn by 
putting George W. Donaghey forward as the standard-bearer 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 135 

of Democracy and having to call upon a substitute to meet his 
opponent on the stump ? I am a Democrat from the crown of 
my head to the sole of my feet, and if Donaghey is the nomi- 
nee and my services are demanded I am willing to campaign 
every county in the State in his interest to beat a Republi- 
can; but, gentlemen, why bring about this necessity? Why 
bring upon us this chagrin, this mortification? Why elect a 
man Governor of our State that can not properly and fittingly 
represent us in a foreign State upon a great occasion or that 
can not meet his Republican opponent upon the hustings? 
Gentlemen, I call your attention to these things that you may 
ponder them well before you make this mistake of this cam- 
paign. Ah, my friends, I am in earnest about this matter. 
My whole soul is wrapped up in the welfare of Arkansas and 
her people. Here I was born, here I expect to die and be 
buried by my good father in the little cemetery at Russell- 
ville. All my interests are here, everything I have, every- 
thing I hope to have, every heart throb, every ambition of 
my life is clustered around and centered in the future wel- 
fare of my native State. 



CHAPTER IX 

ANTI-TRUST SPEECH IN THE SENATE. 

I. 

To DiscHAKGE Committee on Judiciary. 

The Senate having under consideration the following resolution submitted 
by Mr. Davis April 28, 1908— 

''Resolved, That the Committee on the Judiciary be, and the same is 
hereby, discharged from the further consideration of the bill (S. 100) to 
suppress pools, trusts and combinations in trade and to provide penalties 
for violations of its provisions, and for other purposes" — 

Senator Davis delivered his great speech on the "Suppres- 
sion of Trusts" in the United States Senate, May 1, 1908. 

Mr. Davis said: 

Mr. President : The resolution introduced by myself seeks 
to discharge the Judiciary Committee having in charge Sen- 
ate Bill No. 100, introduced by myself on the 4th day of 
December, 1907, from the further consideration of said bill, 
they having failed to report it to the Senate, and I ask that 
said bill be laid before the Senate for its consideration, and 
with the indulgence of the Senate, I shall give my reasons 
for such resolution, and that there may be no doubt as to the 
reasons given, and that no intemperate or unguarded lan- 
guage may escape my Hps on this occasion, I have chosen to 
do that which I have never done before in my hfe— committed 
to writing the things of which I speak on this occasion. 

Why shall this bill not be reported by the committee? Can 
any Senator of the majority give me a valid, intelHgent rea- 
son? Does the bill not accomphsh in legal effect the evil at 
which it is leveled, or is the majority, the Republicans in this 
Senate, just preceding the Presidential election, afraid to 
meet the issue before the American people involved in this 
bill, namely, the suppression of trusts, pools and combina- 
tions in trade? Do they prefer to go before the American 
people in the coming contest, notwithstanding the fact that 
the President of the United States has insisted upon legisla- 
tion along this Hne, with no bill passed, no legislative effort 
made looking to the rehef of the people against this mon- 
strous evil? I say to the majority today, however much they 
may dread the issue and however much they may delay it, it 
will not down. The people are demanding relief along this 
line, and, like Banquo's ghost, it will rise in the coming cam- 
paign and in coming years to fret you. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 137 

Except in so far as a proper discharge of piiblie duty meets 
virtuous approbation, I have little ambition to attract atten- 
tion to myself or to what I may do. To the importance of 
the present bill I therefore turn as an excuse, if excuse be 
needed, for venturing again so early in my career as Senator 
to consume the time of the Senate. And within the abound- 
ing virtues of that measure may I not hope to sink, at least 
for the time, whatever deficiencies I myself may personally 
possess; for, sir, even if mere applause were, under any cir- 
cumstances, desirable for its own sake, still my own untrained 
abilities, when tested here, constantly warn me that only a 
plodding directness of speech, unadorned, is the unenvied lot 
to which alone by nature I am assigned. It is known to the 
Senate that my service upon this floor has just begun, nor 
would I seem to disregard your staid and dignified customs, 
or lack at all in respect for whatever usage has indicated as 
decorous and seemly. Under other circumstances I would 
yield to a natural inclination and defer addressing the Sen- 
ate until time had matured my tenure of office; but I deem 
the bill now before the Senate too important, too vital to my 
country; delay, sir, would prove fatal to it. But for that, I 
should most likely defer to that long usage here which in 
some quarters has been thought needful as probatory for new 
Senators. My cause alone, then, I trust will acquit me of 
presumption. Indeed, Mr. President, earnestly devoted to 
what seems to be of transcendent importance to the people. 
Senators will not, I pray, believe me too forward if, indeed, 
I shall note conditions which provoke need of this measure. 
Not that I propose arsaiment, or that argument is deemed 
necessary; none, absolutely none. The arenments, sirs, have 
all been made, all of them. Not here? Not in this chamber? 
Ah, that asseveration mav be true. As to that personally I do 
not know. Austere, staid, ultra-conservative, the Senate may 
not have given ear to all that has been heard, or all that is 
being" resolved bv and amonar those whose backs are straining 
and bending under the weight of government. 

Arguments, sir, indeed, which justify, aye, which demand 
the passage of effective anti-trust leerislation, are being made 
daily, hourlv made throughout the land. Not in words, in 
gifted speech, not by leading statesmen and orators, no: most 
generally, no: not in classic rhythm nor word vaporings 
always. For all such, sir, for the most part, are acrainst us. 
Here and there, it is tme, a brave soul cries from the watch- 
towers and his great eloquence, like the voice of a bell at sea, 



138 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

is resonant, clear, and loud, amidst the befogged and rolling 
waters. But, sir, would you hear the muffled swish and sob 
of the undertow, hear the moan, the deepening roar, the fitful 
slash; hear the grinding, thudding beat upon dark and deso- 
late shores. Ah, sir, in poverty, in unrequited toil through- 
out the land, conditions consequent upon discriminating laws, 
are the arguments made. Moreover, these are arguments 
within themselves, sir, which gifted speech can not turn. The 
sad plight of the people everywhere in comparison with the 
unholy acquisitors of your policies, are arguments which 
storm the very citadel of national justice. I hope here to 
note only some of these conditions. The Senate, I hope, has 
not deemed me so vain as to attempt to offer anything new, 
or even to present old arguments more eloquently or other- 
wise in stronger or better lights. There is not only nothing 
original to be offered, but, Mr. President, to drone away time 
upon this floor in restating, upon the one hand, what all so 
well know, or, upon the other hand, by embarrassing this bill 
with tedious technical criticism, were crimes, red-handed, 
against decency itself, say nothing of the patient suffering of 
our people. My wish, therefore, at this hour is not argu- 
ment, but action. Still, did I not believe such a course unnec- 
essary, I should attempt a detailed analysis of the measure; 
for, in my feebleness, T would attempt whatever is within the 
energies of man to strike down those causes which are grind- 
ing into dust all that is best in this Eepublic. But, sir, as I 
can see, detail is unnecessary. To pursue it would be so 
much time lost. The bill has been printed. Every Senator 
has had or may have had a copy of it. It has been upon 
every desk in this chamber. Its terms are plain, simple, 
direct, and ample. And, too, all have read it or may read it 
unless there be those amongst us wholly given over to fiddling 
while torrents and tempests of fire deluge the streets of Rome. 
This bill, sir, is calculated to be most effective. But I chal- 
lenge Senators to make issue upon any provision of it if 
anywhere it may be made better, pointing in good faith to its 
defects, if such there be. As to its salutary purpose, there 
can be no division of opinion. Directed, without ambiguity, 
against trusts and conspiracies which infest our commerce, 
evils, sir, that have sprung up, grown and fattened under 
favor of Republican laws, impoverishing labor and robbing 
the farm of its annual substance, and dominating in all enter- 
prise until liberty itself is stifled. I earnestly beseech Sena- 
tors to lend to this measure most thoughtful attention. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 139 

n. 

Penalties Aee Not Too Sevebe. 

Ah, sirs, it lias beeu suavely suggested tliat the penalties 
proposed by this bill are unusual; lliat they are too severe. 
True it IS tliat heavy hues are provided; true, it is intended 
to conhne maletactors oi the class dehned by its terms in 
penitentiaries, i^'or myself, sir, i see no objection to those 
provisions. (Sensible, too, ot the general tone and temper of 
this body, 1 can but hope that, as to this, no [Senator can be 
found who does object. Ah, sir, upon what are such objec- 
tions founded i The crime, what crime save treason itself 
more vitally threatens, not merely domestic fehcity, but the 
security of free institutions if Trusts! Has any one been 
so bold as to deny that they, those who conceive and execute 
them, are robbing the people If Kobbing, 1 say; and what, 
pray, is robbery/ A thief is a thief, is he not, sir if These 
insolent predatories for years have surreptitiously hlched 
from industry and labor indiscriminately until their aggre- 
gate booty runs far into the bilhons. Bilhons, sir, I repeat! 
Methuselah could not have counted it by dollars in twice his 
hfetime. Adam, indeed, had he survived till this day, and 
computing a thousand dollars every minute since his expul- 
sion from Paradise, must have lived 50,000 other years to 
have completed the task. Let no one take alarm; these are 
conservative estimates. Upon what pretext, therefore, do we 
hear the word "severity" deftly connected with what is so 
justly proposed as punishment for so great a crime If No; 
let trusts and trust magnates be placed precisely upon the 
same level of infamy as other thieves; let them be punished 
with unerring certainty according to their crimes. Ah, what 
is the true significance of this deft suggestion? Whence 
comes it I Resting upon the false basis it does, the sugges- 
tion is an insult to intelligence and an affront to the spirit 
of American institutions. There is not and there can be 
naught in mere wealth, nothing in so-called "station in hfe" 
to excuse or palhate. What odds in "station," Mr. Presi- 
dent, if one be an enemy to society, a felon in every moral 
aspect? Away, then, with considerations so unworthy of 
honorable men. A thief is a thief, and so, I affirm before all 
mankind, that trusts and trust promoters deserve the consid- 
eration which becomes thieves. "Station," "wealth," in- 
deed! 



140 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

If the poor steal, are not the poor punished? The hungry, 
the halt, the sick, who has excused from punishment these, 
although in extremity demands of humanity may sometimes 
force appropriation of the necessities of life? Yet this is a 
crime; for such is the law. Who, then, I ask, would soften 
the same punishment when it is proposed to visit it upon the 
rich thief, whose very crimes, indeed, have made him rich? 
Ah, Mr. President, my estimate of this body forbids the sup- 
position that a single Senator may be found who is so sensi- 
tive, so blind to what is just, as that. There is no severity; 
the terms of the bill, in the light of criminal codes every- 
where, are temperate and conservative. An ordinary horse 
thief is as severely punished in most of the States. Besides, 
sir, penitentiary walls, what terrors have they for honest 
men? And even those now guilty, they with all their booty, 
may, if they will, escape so horrible humility. If the rich 
and patrician would avert it, there is an easy road. Let them 
forego brigandage, abandon villainy; they have, then, but to 
seek forgiveness for the past before the throne of heaven. 

That there are imperfections in this bill I do not question; 
but I am sure, if any, they are of a minor character, though 
I know of none. The best legislation, sir, must be perfected 
by trial and experience. Let the Senate enter upon a trial 
of this. It will at least begin what has been deferred far too 
long — so long, Mr. President, that not only has untold treas- 
ure been swept away forever, but that predatory wealth has 
become eminently perilous to the Republic itself. I beg the 
Senate, therefore, to pass this bill. Delay at this late day 
will prove most disastrous to it. 

Procrastination will but afford its enemies time to fortify 
against it. Or do you wish to wait until the trusts them- 
selves or their friends give to it their assent? They do not 
ask this bill. Naturally neither do their friends want it, and 
now there is nothing left to them, if it be not objection and 
obstruction. Secretly or more openly, all who are in sympa- 
thy with "high criminality" will object and obstruct. Less, 
the country does not expect. Naturally, furthermore, it will, 
I have no doubt, be their tactics by indirection to overthrow 
it. No one looks for open, doctrinal attack, though each day 
adding to their power and audacity, these giants in rapacity 
have grown most bold and daring. But we expect them, true 
to stealth, to adopt the surreptitious assault; to hear from 
them feigned professions of regard and love, seeking ten- 
derly (?) only to cure by amendments, assumed defects. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 141 

These, or similar methods, I am informed, are generally the 
resort of those who would strangle legislation proposed in 
the interest of the people. But, Mr. President, the trusts 
have no place in this chamber; and shall we not refuse to be 
deceived by trust lobbyists and agents about this Capitol? 
Shall we cower or fear their taunts and jeers ; tremble before 
their poisoning mouth or biting pen; shall w^e hide from the 
fury of their long-pampered pride f Ah, Senators, well you 
know that, laying wait for the halting and timid, is a de- 
bauched, mercenary press, who with false, but seductive or 
more dire and threatening, arguments heaped upon desks 
here, undertake to intimidate the American Senate. This 
bill, calculated as it is to bring untold blessings to the coun- 
try and harmful to none, normally here, should be received 
mth most general favor; for, sir, its principles, fundament- 
ally comporting with the true American conception of liberty 
and justice, are infinitely above party, above partisan preju- 
dice, and party policies. 

I appeal to that intelligence and to those higher sentiments 
which have actuated men aforetimes when dire and appalling 
crisis had befallen humanity ; aye, to that bond of brotherhood 
which individually in the silent hour provokes contemplation 
and awakens within us a sense of our obligations to God. At 
such times, within the experience of every man, hoiuever rich 
or exalted before the world, thoughts, as if apart or proceed- 
ing from voiceless speech somewhere within the mystery of 
our being, engages the mind \vith problems of human life, its 
relations and its ends. Worldly pomp, glory, and power, effer- 
vescent ; wealth, pageantry, resplendence, ambition — these, all 
these, sir, at such times turn to wormwood, and, as a sick 
child, we roll upon our pillow and cry for God. Then it is 
that the human heart exclaims, ''What is all this worth?" 
Then it is, too, there comes a counter query, "What shall it 
profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own 
soul?" And, too, Mr. President, then it is to every man 
there comes but one reply. What? Every Senator bears 
me ample answer. Be your creed what it may, each expe- 
rience exemplifies : We are bound indissolubly in a brother- 
hood whose fatherhood is God; and in the solitude of self- 
communion no man fails to apprehend that material condi- 
tions in so far as they disregard these principles inhere in 
evil and must decay. Sir, it behooves us here, not simply 
and only from official obligation, but from what is infinitely 
more binding, the imperative dictates of our common human- 



142 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

ity to strike down the greedy despoilers of civic and domes- 
tic peace and tranquility. The bill now before the Senate 
is a proposition to scourge the thieves from our temple. It 
proposes nothing more, and certainly nothing less will be 
offered or suggested. Yet, sir, if there is to be attack, spring 
it, I say to the trusts, in the open field and let us behold to 
whom the country shall point with the finger of contempt and 
scorn. 

Ah, sir, conscious of its fullest meaning, I challenge open, 
direct attack, if there be enemies anywhere who have designs 
upon the life of this measure. Whence shall it come? Sir, I 
do not predict that it will come from within this chamber, for 
Senators here represent the people. No Senator sits in the 
Senate under false color or false pretense. Your commis- 
sion is, I know, directly under the seal of your General Assem- 
bly, but your people are behind your General Assembly. 
Whatever of technicality there may be against it, still, Sena- 
tors, you represent your people; your only allegiance is to 
them. Moreover, I halt to say that time has demonstrated 
that you should in all good faith be elected directly by the 
people themselves. However that may be, you in fact repre- 
sent only them. You wish it not declared, you dare not your- 
selves declare, that you hold allegiance to another master. 
Wherefore let this bill come to a vote. By our unanimity 
for such a bill put forever at rest any question of our fidel- 
ity to what is best for the masses in every quarter of this 
Union. In such a body as this, if guerrilla warfare from 
without be superinduced, honorable Senators all, it shall be 
spurned with contempt. This bill, then, must come to a vote. 
If, perchance, there be Senators whose principles require 
opposition to minor features of the measure, let such objec- 
tion be made here ; if finally the bill is to them objectionable, 
surely, sir, no objection can be so indefensible as not finally 
to be openly supported by the vote of such objectors. Upon 
a final vote on the bill, Mr. President, affecting, as it obvi- 
ously does, the well-being of the whole people, any doubt may 
thus be expelled, if doubts anywhere exist, that a single Sena- 
tor would hide from his constituents his true sentiments upon 
it. If such doubt there be, I devoutly trust that upon final 
submision that doubt will take wings and fly far away and be 
at rest. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 143 

in. 

Comparison With the Sherman Act. 

Mr. Fulton: Mr. President — 

The Vice President: Does the Senator from Arkansas 
yield to the Senator from Oregon? 

Mr. Davis: Yes, sir. 

Mr. Fulton: As the Senator is complaining of the Com- 
mittee on the Judiciary in not reporting this measure,^ and 
his argument is simply to show the importance, I take it, of 
proceeding against combinations in restraint of trade, I sug- 
gest that he kindly tell us wherein his proposals differ from 
the existing law, the act of 1890, commonly known as the 
"Sherman Act." 

Mr. Davis: Yes, sir. It differs most materially in the 
penalties of the act. It proposes to put malefactors in the 
penitentiary. 

Mr. Fulton: The only difference, then, is — 

Mr. Davis: Not only' that, sir, but it differs in many re- 
spects, if I could take the time of the Senate to point them 
out. The bill is upon my desk. 

Mr. Fulton : Does the Senator contend that the provisions 
of this bill would cover any combination in restraint of inter- 
state commerce or interstate trade that is not fully and com- 
pletely covered now by existing law? 

Mr. Davis : I certainly do. 

Mr. Fulton : Will the Senator indicate any particular act 
that this bill would cover that the existing law does not cover? 

Mr. Davis : I mil do so before I conclude. 

Sir, I would dispel whatever of injustice toward the Sen- 
ate may linger any^vhere in the minds of the people. I 
defend the Senate against the charge of indirection. For 
myself, but an integral here, the whole world may know by 
my vote, as well upon all other as upon this question, what 
has been my ultimate decision and action. 

Sir, the sinister arts of seductive agencies may hurl what- 
ever of ridicule or of contumely for hindering and embarrass- 
ing legislation, but for one, this bill shall havemy undis- 
mayed support, treading the vnne press alone, if it be so 
decreed, one Senator if no more, here shall voice a conviction 
that humanity and justice are more to be prized than aggran- 
dizement or glory. Thanks be to God, however, I shall not 
be alone. Without regard to party, there are others in this 
chamber, tried and faithful, on either side, sir, who deeply 



144 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

realize the value of this legislation to the country. Devotion 
to the well-being of the people characterizes many independ- 
ent minds amongst us irrespective of party, and however par- 
tisan when partisanry is the tug of war. I but send word of 
cheer and hope among the oppressed in every State when I 
proclaim, as I gladly do, that the breadwinners, those united 
toilers whose brain and brawn sustain this Republic, still have 
friends in the Senate of the United States. Whatever beliefs 
exist in any part of the country, I would defend from asper- 
sion, unless truth be barred me, any or all departments of the 
Government. Upon crucial exigencies I have faith that no 
department will fail, that they, each and all, will prove in 
the critical hour, a most sincere and unbending adherent to 
public weal. I can not permit my mind to dwell upon the 
contrary, nor Avill I allow my thoughts to speculate concern- 
ing what may be the consequences of such improbable contin- 
gencies. Yet, popularly, sir, you may be not aware, this 
greatest of deliberative bodies has been likened in some of 
its important tendencies to the House of Lords of the British 
Parliament. Throughout this Republic the belief for years 
has steadily grown that the Senate has acquired a fixed bias 
against the people. Whatever legislation be proposed here 
which is designed justly to restrain the acquisition or the 
exaction of wealth, has been sur)posed very generally to enter 
upon a rocky road, meeting at last at your hands a melan- 
choly doom. 

I but state a fact, sir, when I say that the trusts, according 
to a popular belief, whatever the iniustice to the Senate, are 
here peculiarly influential; that measures looking to reform 
in that behalf, that any legislative program leveled against 
their predatory sway, is somehow and in some way summa- 
rily executed, court-martialed, drumhead court-martialed, sir, 
and shot upon the spot. And, Mr. President, in view^ of that 
erroneous belief I now ask what has been done, what is being 
done, or will be done? 

Sir, as was so properly said bv the distinguished Senator 
from Rhode Island (Mr. Aldrich) upon the question of the 
building of four bftttleships, this Congress a\^11 go down in 
history as the most extravagant Congress that ever assem- 
bled on the American continent. He said that there was the 
largest deficiency in the treasury today that had ever existed. 

Ah, Mr. President, I pause to say that when the people of 
this great Nation ask of Congress bread, they give them a 
stone; when they ask of Congress a fish, they give them a 



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LEWIS RHOTON 

The Prosecuting Attorney Who Became Famous for His Prose- 
cutions of Legislative Corruption. During the Earlv Part 
of Jeff Davis's Political Career They were Friends, 
and Senator Davis Said, "Lewis Rhoton Has 
a Baclibone as big as my old grip." 
Later they became jiolitical ene- 
mies and ci'iticised each 
otlier unmercifully. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 145 



serpent. What have you done at this session for the ameUor- 
ation of the condition of the toiUng masses of this country? 
You have passed one bill, the employer's Uability act, which 
is as full of holes as a kitchen sifter ; a bill, sir, that the Presi- 
dent thought so little of that for days and days he threatened 
its veto. Ah, Mr. President, well may it be asked what has 
been done to reassure the public mind or to dispel these vain 
beliefs. For, however far from the facts, a condition con- 
fronts the Senate. People in all ages have been swayed by 
their beliefs, however fanciful or elusive. Human nature is 
what it is ; but great will be our error if we rest upon a belief, 
equally false or elusive, that the people found their beliefs 
wholly upon either passion, ignorance or prejudice. 

Mr. Fulton: Mr. President — 

The Vice President: Does the Senator from Arkansas 
yield to the Senator from Oregon? 

Mr. Davis: Yes, sir. 

Mr. Fulton : Before the Senator passes from the employ- 
ers' liability act, which he has denounced in such strong terms 
as being full of deficiencies and defects, will he not kindly 
point out the particular point wherein it is unconstitutional? 

Mr. Davis: Mr. President, I do not intend that this dis- 
cussion shall be diverted from the question under considera- 
tion. If the Senator from Oregon desires me to teach a law 
school and if he will kindly indicate that desire, I will be glad 
to have him as a pupil. He himself, sir, well knows that the 
employers' liability act is but a sop thrown out to the Ameri- 
can laborer just preceding a Presidential election. 

Mr. Fulton: Mr. President — 

The Vice President: Does the Senator from Arkansas 
jdeld further to the Senator from Oregon? 

Mr. Davis: Yes, sir. 

Mr. Fulton: The Senator asks do I want him to teach a 
law school. I ask him to teach only me. Before we are 
asked to enter upon that broader field, I should like to see 
whether or not he really understands the bill. 

Mr. Davis : I do not mean to be disrespectful to the Sena- 
tor, but I do not care to have the discussion diverted at this 
time. True, the pubhc mind is not invariably judicial ; it does 
not wait upon demonstration, or demand that evidence be or- 
derly, circumstantial, or particular. Men in all the more se- 
rious affairs of life form opinions as frequently upon what 
does not as upon what does transpire. The Senate is judged 
in large part by what it has not accomplished. So, sir, I say let 



146 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

popular judgment be founded never so erroneously, want of 
confidence in this body is the fact to which all must give heed. 
Ah, just now there comes from ''captains of industry" a 
specious plea that ''want of confidence," that this element 
alone, ivant of confidence in business stability precipitates a 
panic; that within the twinkling of an eye what was full and 
fat became lean and poor ; that so vital to prosperity is mere 
confidence of the people that to withdraw that confidence is 
to convulse enterprise with disorder and bring to ruin in a 
day the mighty fabric of business and commerce. As to that 
I now take no issue. 

But, Mr. President, what then are we to understand is the 
nature or value of confidence? Can you say "confidence" is 
substantive, a thing which may be owed, borrowed, or loaned ; 
a tangible quality inhering in all things, if they are to have 
consistency, cohesion, and durability? Or, sir, is that subtle 
agency something less or more; Avill you rank it among the 
mechanical or vital forces, so precipitate and dreadful are its 
effects, buoying by its favor, or destroying in cyclonic fury 
by a nod, universal prosperity? Moreover, whatever be the 
constituents or the caprices of "confidence," none have sup- 
posed it capable of extension or withdrawal, unsupported, 
and at mil. Eepeating, therefore, I ask what has the Senate 
done to restore the confidence among the people? What of 
want of confidence in the Senate? What ere long will that 
precipitate? Mr. President, the Senate must be judged, has 
been judged, will be judged as other men generally are 
judged, by their actions, by nonaction, by their sympathies 
and associations. I repeat again, sir, that the Senate is con- 
fronted by a condition. It may not be just. Upon the whole, 
I am persuaded that it is unjust. But persuasion of others 
do not meet what the Senate must meet for itself. Nor, 
indeed, can we longer fold about us the silent dignity, a self- 
consciousness of innocence, and ignore this condition. 
Suavely attribute it in silence to ignorance or prejudice? No; 
that will not do; something more must now be done. This, 
sir, is a representative body. While there may be a just lofti- 
ness appurtenant to our place here, Senators can not forget 
nor treat with contempt the political truth that we are but 
servants of the people, and, what is more, that our masters 
hold our conduct under suspicion. Deny, again and again, 
that trusts have peculiar influence upon this floor? Denial is 
proper within itself, comporting as it does the truth, but 
denial alone, unattended with something more substantial, 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 147 

and demonstrable, will wander back unladen, a vagrant echo 
from the mountains of discontent. Denial, sir, is no longer 
open as an efficient remedy. Denial has been sent forth year 
after year, but not one has found where to rest its feet. 
Moreover, now, everywhere the flood does not abate. Upon 
the contrary, discontent is rising, mountain peaks are disap- 
pearing, landmarks are submerged. Most alarming of all, 
over the whole sky a dismal pall warns us of impending tor- 
rents. Sir, believe me, there nmst be action. I pray God 
most earnestly that the Senate be up and doing. Act for the 
people, not in excitement, not suddenly in fright, but let what 
is done be decently done, promptly and amply. 

IV. 

Influence of Predatory Wealth. 

Mr. President, let no Senator, from what has been said, 
receive misunderstanding as to my own temper or sentiments. 
Aye, sir, if denial be worth anything, I deny the direct influ- 
ence upon this body of predatory wealth. Such denial, dur- 
ing my short experience here, has been in many ways con- 
firmed. No, sir; if the trusts have influence in the Senate 
chamber, that influence is not direct; whatever at all there 
may be of that influence, I feel that it can be only conse- 
quential and remote. So it is to be reflected that we are but 
men. I do not say that Senators chosen by the people to so 
great an office are, as respects character and virtue, even 
ordinary men, yet men, after all, possessed, too, it is fair to 
assume, of the weakness, the fears, the temptations and hopes 
of other men. If, therefore, unworthy influences have had 
effect here to stay legislation, there are still peculiar condi- 
tions which render Senators generally — and I doubt if there 
be a single exception — wholly insensible to it. It must be 
remembered where we are and what relation this body bears 
to commerce and to all that pertains to public good. Who 
can affirm that environment is a condition which, if regarded 
at all, may be set apart as separate from ourselves. Insensi- 
bly, sir, whatever we are or hope to become, is referable 
directly or broadly to environment. And, surrounded as we 
are by the allurements of luxury, seeing hourly the scintilla- 
tions and glitter of wealth, it need not be doubted that public 
servants are made the objects of its enticements. Devotees 
of Mammon, ever ready to afford gayety ^^dthout stint, their 
arts for entertainment are unrivaled, while be^\itching smiles 



148 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

all the while plausibly disarm fear. Prodigal liberality is 
their stock in trade, appealing to the natural appetites of 
man, and, sir, as the country well knows, this Capital City is 
overflowing with seductive measures, which, although failing 
often to enthrall, are designed to ensnare the stoutest heart. 
Thus daily surrounded, some men are borne unconsciously, 
as in a dream, upon angel wings. 

Exhilarated by that inexplicable effluvium characteristic of 
pageantry and pomp, the mind passes rapidly through in- 
creasing stages of intoxication, the heart glows, the head rings 
with subdued, though altogether pleasurable sounds, while 
the victim sinks painlessly, if not joyfully, into a sort of stu- 
pefaction. Among the first effects of this condition upon the 
mind is forgetfuluess. Singularly, what of the past has to 
the victim been true and real, now is apprehended only as a 
dream. Home, faces of the confiding people — all these; pledges 
at the hustings, duty, honor, valor, devotion, justice, law, 
float aimlessly, as dispersing clouds, and if seen at all, are 
seen only as far away and unreal. It, sir, is the hypnotism 
of worldliness — the spell of wealth. At every turn now wily 
incantations of Mammon enwrap the attention; there is no 
longer either desire or opportunity for escape, and the poor, 
weak creature, in a sort of frenzied gladness, falls down in 
hopeless idolatry. These conditions are ever present about 
many great capitals, seen of all men. Approach Senators 
directly? No. Not that the trusts would not, did not the 
honor of the Senator warn them that they dare not. Sir, 
assured thus of the rebuke which must follow direct approach, 
a system infinitely removed and wholly metaphysical is 
adroitly woven around the habitat of legislation. "Necro- 
mancy," "hypnotism," sir, is the better, and more nearly 
the word. It is the hypnotism of wealth. By its exquisite 
agency, though neither the person nor the honor is harmed, 
the will is unconsciously controlled. 

But let me hasten to more substantial things. Mr. Presi- 
dent, who does not know that American Government origi- 
nated out of bitter hostility to those very principles which 
today seem under its administration to thrive, while liberty 
and justice themselves wither and die? I deny that any 
there be who deliberately refuse to see. No; but blind are 
they rather, so constant and fierce has been the glow of gold. 
Ah, no one is now assuming the authority of a Moses, but I 
bid the Senate hearken to a discontent which is daily growing 
more ominous. "Brazen serpent," say you, "without vir- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 149 

tue?" Yes, I appeal to the Senate. Lookl Else, sir, as 
God lives the Republic must perish. Inevitable it is. If it 
be destiny, call it destiny; but be assured, Senators, that 
except we return to righteousness national life must termi- 
nate in nation dissolution. If truth be truth, there is no 
escape. Ever widening the chasm between capital and labor, 
bitter fruits of national legislation, this Congress must span 
quickly and well, else soon within that dismal abyss will tum- 
ble in conglomerate hopelessness the cracking and creaking 
walls of this Republic. Ah, well I know how ready some may 
be to cry *' Prophet! Prophet!" in mockery and disdain. In 
the self-same spirit which the Hebrews, upon a far different 
occasion, scoffingly cried, "All hail. King of the Jews !" Life, 
sir, has its own laws. Fundamentally righteousness and jus- 
tice, infinitely varied in forms, are its essential remonstrance. 
All else is death. Ye can not escape. In the all of the one 
is hfe; beyond, Mr. President, death stalks, stern, remorse- 
less and solitary through halls where laughter has not en- 
tered, and silence, in sabled stiffness enshrouds obhvion. Be 
warned, I say. Senators, Federal policies must be swiftly 
reformed. Sir, the time is propitious, and here and now, put- 
ting aside party interest and feeling, let the Senate for proof 
turn in retrospection upon this Government. Its original 
designs you know full well, you know its history. Federal 
Union — Union of free States in America! Sir, when first 
proclaimed that glory palsied the heart of Europe, ashen 
were the lips of monarchy in alarm, and then and there plu- 
tocracy furtively indicted its last will and testament. 

Providential resolution had crowned Uberty, and American 
valor sworn allegiance to justice. Here, home of the free, 
there was constituted a safe haven for every craft, ocean liner 
or smack, that should be dashed unequally amidst the reefs 
of human struggle. Behold today that Government, not as 
now, but in the beginning. History, sir, will tell the story. 
Ah, some may accuse me, if they choose, of academics, but 
what of history if from history, in times like the present, we 
may not again take our bearings, so violently have greed and 
glory driven us. Look, then, I beg, at this Republic in the 
earlier lights; see her unimpaired splendor unfurled before 
the world an unconquerable spangle of stars ; behold her 
unrivaled grace in the flash and glare and roar of war, her 
unsparing sacrifice of blood and treasure to the cause of 
human liberty. Behold, too, now her virgin loveliness in the 
first full flush of bUssful reaUzation of joys which just vie- 



150 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

tory brings. Sir, the story of history need not be repeated 
here; yet, Mr. President, who dare alter, who forget iti? For 
my own part, I love to dwell upon its pages, to pour its pre- 
cious treasures into the laps of my children, to hold its price- 
less lesson for their emulation. And even the Senate, sir, 
may well review, candidly review, those early events; and 
then if there remains amongst us the least of those deeper 
sentiments w^hich actuated our sires, answer, if you can, how 
far, alas, how dangerously far, government has at last been 
given over to its original enemies. That somewhere and 
somehow there has been betrayal not even hardihood is auda- 
cious enough to deny. Dehberately, solemnly, in my place 
here, representative of a sovereign State, do I challenge 
denial that liberty today in America, as liberty was meant 
and understood in the bloody baptismal of revolution, so far 
from being an occasional welcome visitor, has been a total 
stranger to this Government for many years. Let no one 
start; if there be contrary sentiments, I am ready to main- 
tain it. For, poor and weak though I be, truth is mighty. 

I am prepared to hear some soft-handed, timid creature, 
anxious lest by something said here the people be disturbed 
from their bondage, charge me with "intemperate language." 
The country knows, however, that I dare hold up plain truth 
to this body. Doubt not that the truth is everywhere recog- 
nized, whatever, in certain quarters, interest or cupidity dis- 
pose some to deny. Fully conscious am I that plainness of 
speech subjects me, among the foohsh, to animadversion; but 
to disguise truth or to withhold from it aught were, under 
the circumstances, worse than treason. Sir, special interests 
seek, I know, by intimidation to make plain speaking unpopu- 
lar. Certain of the press even, allured by vain glory or gold, 
have set a fashion to deride and decry whatever is calculated 
to arouse the country to its true condition. Indeed, so strong 
has become insolence, feeding upon its own offal, that, let 
whomsoever desire action here which savors of public weal, 
and that Senator is at once denounced as a demagogue from 
one end of the Union to the other. 

Here, Senators, I would be indulged, if but for a moment, 
in sHght personal allusion; its illustrative character will be 
too apparent to require explanation or apology. It is kno"\vn 
to most Senators that, by the indulgence of the Senate, I ven- 
tured a few observations, on the 11th day of December last, 
when this bill was referred. Whatever was then said, sir, 
was the natural overflow of a heart in deep sympathy with 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 151 

the poor, the laborer, with honest workers in every walk of 
life. For, saying nothing of disinterested justice to all such, 
upon the shoulders of these rests the security and glory of 
the Republic. That this is but simple truth only knaves are 
despicable enough either to disregard or to deny. From the 
sturdy mass of our people proceeds all — yes, all, I repeat — 
that is worthy the name of man amongst us ; by their author- 
ity do Senators hold places of responsibility, and from the 
fruits of their industry are we sustained. By them, too, was 
not government itself ordained? Sir, if, then, that be true, 
how beastial the doctrine that mere wealth, for its own sake, 
may seize upon the potencies of government for its own 
aggrandizement. 

V. 

The Mission of Government, 

Speaking broadly, government was instituted among men 
as a bar to evil in all forms. Covetousness and greed, espe- 
cially — have these egregious enemies of sweat and toil, never- 
theless, "rights?" Rights, sir, I say, vested rights, which 
government is bound to respect. Too well you know how 
utterly wreckful is such a pretense. Yet, Mr. President, tak- 
ing these, my very words, watch plutocracy, you who care to 
busy your curiosity with the arts of low cunning and system- 
atic villainy; for, even while I speak, spies and sentinels are 
impatient, and ere my last word shall be spoken a line of 
craven newspapers, seizing upon what has been so truthfully 
said, will contort it to deceive the public, as if anarchy were 
ranting treason in the Senate. Yet, let me repeat, govern- 
ment, American government, was not ordained to protect 
wealth for its own sake, aside from the fair fruits of honest 
toil. No vested rights may be imputed to wealth. I go fur- 
ther; government was not designed to foster wealth for its 
own sake; certainly not where, by conspiracy, it assumes 
monopolistic forms. Legislative favor, therefore, laws 
framed whereby acquisition may be accelerated beyond what 
is natural, favoring one against another, favoring one section 
above the rest of the country, thus impoverishing many and 
enriching the few, the veritable Pandora's box, sir, whence 
sprang all our evils, criminally outraging justice and flush- 
ing every statute of liberty Wth shame, burning, mortifying 
shame. Sir, this is a serious business, and I challenge any 
to a denial. I charge that in every essential part the Consti- 
tution has been trampled under foot and American institu- 
tions overthrown. What? Ah, the form may still remain. 



152 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

but of what value, pray, is form, if the substance be gone? 
But I bid plutocracy be not too exultant; it is not gone for- 
ever. Thank God, it will return, soon return; triumphant 
Democracy, ere long, will restore to the temple our ark of the 
covenant from Republican hands. Plutocracy, be warned, I 
say, God's people shall have their own. And yet, sir, so 
accustomed have favored interests become, that now they 
audaciously plead illicit favors as if rights in themselves, 
marvelously appropriating estoppel, as they have wrongfully 
appropriated everything to themselves, since endurance and 
patience have been mistaken for laches on the part of the 
people. 

So that, Mr. President, on the occasion named my few sim- 
ple words on behalf of truth and justice scarcely left my lips 
when a pampered, silken-robed, scriveling set of conspirators, 
surprised and alarmed, curled haughtily, though nervously, 
at their choppy mustaches, and bit patrician finger nails in 
puzzled haste, so importunate was their eagerness to hurr\' 
a polluted press to mock and ridicule a homely friend of 
labor. Instantly paid trust journals up and down the coun- 
try, with one accord, in the selfsame breath, and manifestly 
upon identical command, thinking to discredit my cause, cen- 
tered upon me from a thousand sources vituperation, art- 
fully put as news, and consummate wrath covertly dressed in 
the habiliments of humor. Upon that occasion I had ven- 
tured — an unskilled, plain man — to speak in honest terms 
upon a subject which I know to be near the hearts of that 
large army of men who wear overalls and hickory shirts. 
What offense, pray? Meet the issues. Shall no one speak 
for them in the Senate? True, I had essayed the unexpected 
and unconventional — had addressed the Senate — a new Sena- 
tor — upon the eleventh day of my service. Why should there 
have been delay? Arkansas, sir, is she not the equal of any 
State upon this floor? For her I reply *'Yes." Against 
whom, then, has one of her Senators offended? Precedent? 
''Precedent," indeed! Mr. President, I care not for prece- 
dents, unless they be good precedents; and a precedent which 
binds the hands or closes the mouth of a Senator when duty 
bids him speak is a bad precedent, suited only to tempera- 
ments which shrink from responsibility. Still my conduct 
was by the press scouted as a boldness, against which they 
affected to scowl and sneer. Moreover, what at that time 
came from m}'- heart, unstudied and unkempt — and for aught 
I know or care was ungrammatical, as was with much delib- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 153 

eration charged — nevertheless proceeding from a brain busied 
wholly with truth — conditional limitations, sir, to wliich the 
plutocratic newspapers are, in the nature of the case, total 
strangers. Modestly arraigning the protective system by 
quoting from a well-known trust magnate *'As the mother of 
trusts," this was heralded as a most grievous fault. But it 
seems wherein I chiefly offended is yet to be mentioned. 

Upon the occasion named I had adverted briefly and truth- 
fully, if somewhat fervently, to the nature of the punishment 
proposed by this bill. Beheving punishment by fine only 
abortive, I urged and still urge, as part of this bill, penal 
servitude as wisest and best. Fine a trust? A poUcy of that 
sort can have no other effect than to excite contempt, if it 
does not irritate to renewed exorbitance, for what Senator 
is too bUnd to know, what everybody else realizes, that only 
to fine a trust is but to add to operating expenses ; a veritable 
fine upon the innocent consumer at last. Ah, Mr. President, 
let the Senate meet bravely and patriotically the issue which 
is set before us. It is square and sharp. Shall autocracy 
or democracy dominate; shall the Republic endure, or shall 
there arise from its ruins a despotism of wealth? Sir, if con- 
stitutional government, think you, be worth the saving, then, 
in God's name, lend your might and main to rescue it from 
gluttony and greed! Trusts must be destroyed or they \\dll 
destroy all else. That trusts are criminal, aye, that they are 
ethically treasonable, is everywhere known, if not openly 
charged or admitted. I am aware, to the contraiy, of the 
specious pretext offered that the trusts are benefactors; that 
they develop industries and reduce the cost of commodities. 
Fundamentally false, what is stronger proof of their egre- 
gious infamy? I have neither time nor inclination to dignify 
this falsehood by argument; but I remind the Senate that this 
Government was builded for something loftier than cheap 
tea, cheap steel, cheap tobacco, and cheap petroleum. Nor, 
sir, is American slavery to be compensated by any of these. 
Your stalking horse, Troy, is not to be again subjugated by 
disguises Uke that. Away with madness and folly. Trusts 
are wicked conspiracies and combinations of men; punish 
them, I say — not the shadow, but the substance. Let flesh 
and blood feel the inexorable mandate of law. 

What say your criminal codes? Are conspiracies to kill, 
to rob, or burglarize foolishly denounced or punished? Are 
only conspiracies fined? No; you apprehend and punish 
men. Your specious rejoinder I readily anticipate and grant, 



154 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



that corporations are entities owning estates and may be 
punished by fines; let their officers act for them as other 
agents and should not be held personally for what is done 
officially, but, sir, I deny that an officer can rob ''officially," 
that he can violate the law "officially," while the entity itself 
can only act by law ; so that but for the evil purposes of men 
going beyond law the entity only would prove harmless. What 
then? Sir, I say the penitentiary. Open prison doors; set 
that alternative before conspiracy, graft and greed. The 
penitentiary; that prospect alone can now restore the coun- 
try. And, sir, the term of imprisonment must be formidable ; 
let even men of wealth or station, if guilty, feel the draw of 
the inexorable halter of the law. 

Such, upon the occasion named, were my sentiments delib- 
erately expressed before the Senate and the country, though 
not in my present language. Nor do I offer now the shght- 
est apology. No new theory or strange doctrine has been 
advanced. Hired scriveners will cry out, as of late they 
invariably cry out whenever honest men speak in behalf of 
truth and justice, ''Anarchy!" "Socialist!" but it is only an 
old stratagem of guilt in new form — it is but the hue and 
cry of the thief, made as he runs. No; what I have main- 
tained is as old as time. Every criminal code is based upon 
it. From the beginning of English history that doctrine has 
been appHed readily to the poor, the ordinary, the common 
thief. Upon what, then, is the Senate asked to delay? Why, 
pray, shall not men, such as Rockefeller, Harriman, Rogers, 
and that ilk, be treated by the Government upon the same 
level as other thieves ? And yet, sir, when I ventured to sug- 
gest it, lo, there arose a shout of derision. Certain of the 
press, mostly Repubhcan, but some pretendedly Democratic — 
for money will sometimes buy either — seized upon my words 
as if every letter exhaled the foul breath of treason. 

VI. 

Philippic on the Subsidized Peess. 

Diminutive editors in paroxyms of frenzy grimaced and 
gesticulated as though there had been committed an unpar- 
donable sin against the Holy Ghost. Puniest of creatures, 
miserable, monocarpous, misnamed men, pressed trousers 
and all, sUnking cravens at the golden feet of Mammon, 
frothed madly, upon seeing my words ; their Httle, weak bod- 
ies trembled, the Hmbs twitched and jerked as in spasm ; the 
eyeballs rolled nervously, and the eyes emitted a greenish 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 155 

light, while the poor, brainless creatures snarled and snapped 
aimlessly, as do ordinary dogs, as it is said, affected with 
hydrophobia. Such seem to have been the first effects upon 
a plutocratic press. But, do not misunderstand me. I ar- 
raign not one honest newspaper. I know and appreciate the 
value to liberty of an unmuzzled press. Under wise and 
patriotic guidance, no power or influence goes before unbri- 
dled journalism when justice and freedom are at stake. The 
press in the past, I know what part it accomplished, I know 
its valiance, its brave deeds in behalf of government by the 
people. Mighty power for good, it is also, in wicked hands, 
a power for evil; and designing men, seizing upon the press 
wherever possible, are transforming its power into agencies 
of evil. Ah, I earnestly pray that infinite wisdom ever guide 
our patriotic editors in this trying hour. Despite iniquitous 
tariffs even upon your white paper, roll your ample pages to 
the winds of heaven and let the farthest reaches of civiliza- 
tion gather truth as it flies. Ah, oh, may your white \vings, 
wide extended, hover always closely about, a protection and 
a shield to labor everyAvhere, and to the husbandman whose 
industries feed the Nation. Ah, sir, I make no war upon 
legitimate journalism; on the contrary, what they stand for 
I stand for, what we jointly seek no lover of justice can 
despise. Individualism universally regarded and developed 
is the only hope of man. You may talk of greatness, of 
development, and of power, but all these are vain unless indi- 
vidualism be their highest fruition. 

Fearlessly do I proclaim that in proportion as government 
neglects individual well-being it attains not the ends for 
which government was ordained. True, government itself is 
a combination; but it is a union not a trust, constituted to 
promote liberty, not of a mass or of an aggregation of men 
as a body or of the majority, as is sometimes foolishly sup- 
posed, but to assure, through the strength of the whole, the 
individualism of every part, however weak. All ulterior 
combinations, therefore, amongst the parts which are sub- 
versive of these primary ends to that extent are at enmity 
with freedom. I am not unaware that the trusts make bold 
to deny that they are among combinations or conspiracies of 
the class here implied. Indeed, amongst a spawn of other 
presumptuous sophistries advanced it is now audaciously 
maintained that so far from being enemies they are benefac- 
tors to society. Pointing to present prices of some commodi- 
ties over earlier prices and wholly ignoring favoring condi- 



156 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

tions which time and developments have wrought in spite of 
the trusts, they modestly exclaim, ''Behold the fruits of our 
benevolence! But, sir, the American people are not objects 
of charity. Not the pittanace, but the principle, it was which 
drove the colonists to annul by sword the tax upon tea. Ah, 
** benefactors!" Upon like plausibility can ordinary larceny 
be heralded as benevolence, and the more mdespread and 
systematic the thefts — God save the mark! — the wider and 
more general the benefits of so great munificence; for, truth 
to say, the subject-matter which provoked this sort of ** dis- 
interested thrift" is usually put upon the market "regard- 
less of cost." But I shall not further dignify a false pre- 
tense. Benefactors, indeed! Behold the veritable moun- 
tains of gold piled up and still piling up in the strong vaults 
of a few men as a result of their undying charity for the 
people. 

Equitably applied, all this unearned wealth, had it been left 
with the people, would have builded in each State a college 
at a cost, inclusive of endowment, of $10,000,000 ; a home for 
veterans of the Ci^nl war at a cost of twenty million; an 
agricultural academy at a cost of forty million; an orphan 
asylum, a poorhouse in every county, ample for all coming 
demands; museums and art institutes in every hamlet, boun- 
tifully endowed the school fund of each State, threaded the 
land with macadamized roads, bridged rivers and streams, 
reduced State and other taxes to a minimum, and left the 
people with good homes, unacquainted with debt or grinding 
poverty, while peace, quietude and contentment would every- 
where abound. 

The sober, sane, simple truth/ Let scavengers of plu- 
tocracy howl! Truth, God's living truth — where are its 
defenders? Miserable travesty upon noble manhood, 
post-graduates in all arts of slander or defamation, I 
challenge a subsidized press! The people know your 
design and spurn your pretenses, ivhether under show of 
argument or more servient hypocrisy. Go! damnable 
imps of pelf and greed, I defy your taunts! Tear to 
fragments my political career, if it comport tvith your 
execrable will; stifle and distort my every utterance; not 
satisfied, if such be your brutal frenzy, lash my poor 
form into insensibility; then, if it be your further pleas- 
ure, gnaw from my stiffening limbs every vestige of quiv- 
ering flesh; howl in wretched bestiality through my own 
innocent blood as it drips from your fiendish visages; 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 157 

drag then, if you want what remains, into the filth and 
vermin of your foul den and hum it upon the altar of 
Baal, or scatter it before the friendly winds of heaven to 
your betters, the carrion crows of the field! All that 
may they do, all and more, if there yet be open further 
depths of infamy to a polluted, besotten press. These 
ready servants of greed, ivhat have they not done or 
attempted to fasten still more securely an autocracy upon 
us? It seems to be their special function, not simply to 
pervert truth, but to threaten and terrorize public men. 
Dare a Senator align himself with the people? What? 
Yes; many illustrious servants of the people have lifted 
honest voices here and elseivhere against the march of 
plutocracy, to fall ambushed, politically assassinated, and 
by ivhom? By the trusts, wearing masks. Ah, sir, 
neivspaper masks. But, Mr. President, insignificant as 
am, I, if my political career be marked, let them sharpen 
their blade, for I ivill be here at the appointed hour, and 
while here only God can stay my voice in behalf of organ- 
ized, united labor and the yeomanry of America. 

Mr, President, it was said of old, *'Ye can not serve God 
and Mammon." Ah, Senators, T would dare assert this im- 
mortal trnth even upon this floor, for in that simple doctrine 
is to be fonnd the root principles of all just government. 
Analyze or differentiate, but it remains the sum total. Not 
from superstition; not necessarily from sectarian -^dews. But 
resting in the essential polarity of a mortal mind, the affec- 
tions of man can not embrace objects which are fundament- 
ally repulsive. Nor, sir, is that doctrine applicable only to 
individuals. Governments dare not disre<rard it. Time can 
not alter or abate its force. You mav content yourselves with 
procrastination or assure me that God no lonerer deals ^vith 
nations. The Bible is plain; the orthodox belief is explicit. 
As to personality and personal relations, as affecting concep- 
tions of God, T leave to each for himself: but for mvself. one 
thing I know: Baal is not God: and T reason that while Baal 
deals with nations for evil, God must continue to combat him 
and rule for good. Skepticism may stalk, but be warned. 
Senators, the rule of Mammon is the rule of ruin, and sooner 
or later o'ovemment must pay the penaltv. Brinsr, sir, to 
your assistance the history of Europe. What has been the 
doom of empires who knew not God? Good, sir, if you ^vill 
have mv creed, for "good" and ''God" are identical princi- 
ples — the fruits and essence of the divine mind. And if we 



158 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

are to profit by history, turn your thoughts upon our dis- 
tracted country, where Mammon has stormed the very walls 
and holds the strong places with brutal fury. 

Mr. President, to enter upon an elaborate review of condi- 
tions which distract this unhappy country would be superer- 
rogation. So long and cheerless is the history of man's in- 
humanity to man. Trusts and their cause, predatory wealth 
in all its forms, little as may be supposed, is, sir, a matter 
of common knowledge. In vain is hidden their perfidy under 
such high-sounding terms as ''science" and ''finance;" in 
vain it is assumed that "business" is a thing peculiar to the 
elect and wholly apart from the so-called "common people;" 
terms, sir, ill chosen to designate the sturdy citizenship of 
America. In vain, too, has it been sought to throw about 
modern methods of "finance" an appearance of legality and 
respectability. Eepeated and rapidly increasing crimes have 
found them out. 

And I charge, sir, that such conditions could not have sur- 
vived a day save by favor of this Government. The field is 
inviting, but time forbids that I now descend into particulars. 
But in what manner Federal policies for more than forty 
years have steadily wrought, involving a recital of wretched 
detail, even to an American schoolboy, it were folly to re- 
count. From the close of the Civil war to this hour Mam- 
mon has been as busy as busy can be. Who does not recall 
his sinister manipulation of our greenback currency? Erect- 
ing a national banking system despite the Constitution, these 
banks are temples all over the land adapted especially to his 
worship. Who inspired resumption to his glory? It was 
Mammon, sir, who bound and gagged the people in the galling 
bonds of protection, a system which for bold outlawry and 
despotic confiscation distances far the remorseless tribute of 
Caesar. Who but the god of gold demonetized our silver? 
Monopoly has been intrenched ; favorites have been advanced ; 
his worship, even in the Christian churches and colleges, fos- 
tered; his code is graft, his followers are thieves, and his 
heaven is hell. Moreover, so powerful and insolent has grown 
this money god that no sooner do the people seek to over- 
throw his power or to retard his further subjugation of our 
fair country than straightway he, in wrath, brings down upon 
the suffering millions — men, women and children — a panic, 
a pestilence of ruin. Oh, boasted Republic, brightest star in 
the constellation, blessed stay and security to and for the 
highest good of man ; once glorified not less in prayer than in 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 159 



song the world over wherever hope dared whisper to sinking 
liberty, what shall be thy ultimate destiny under the mad- 
ness and inhumanity of man? Sir, it is the old story— selfish 
ambition and love of power. When shall men come to that 
glorious understanding, basic in all righteousness, that only 
conformity to the good insures real fehcity? Homiletic, am 
I told? Does the Senate find itself beyond or above recur- 
rence to the simple truths which make for godliness ? It has 
been said that the Senate is dignified. Very well ; there be 
dignity. Dignity, true dignity, always gentle, unassuming, 
and simple, denotes probity and justice. 

Dignity marks him who loves truth, whose life is a daily 
expression of inward harmony with the real and good, while 
false dignity is an attempt to disguise what is hideous and 
bald. Then, in simple terms, I make bold to speak, and I say 
to the Senate I know its acknowledgment of those simple, 
though more sublime truths which uphold the right in all 
things. And if there be the least confusion, disenthrall your- 
self from the artificial modes or behefs, so that from the 
eternal fountain of homiletic truth you may drink copiously. 
To destroy evil, the minds and purposes of men must rightly 
apprehend its genesis. Evil, broadly, is conditional, not per- 
sonal. It is a negation, a disregard of law, erroneous con- 
ceptions of what is good. Under ignorant beliefs men seek- 
ing the good yet set up and worship error, entailing, logically, 
a brood of our present evil consequences. It follows that 
many, as well individual as national, behefs — idols, indeed, 
sir — must be altered and demolished. Erroneous principles, 
as they are called, must give way to righteousness ere again 
in America a sense of supreme brotherhood shall give char- 
acter to our laws. In considering the great question now n 
before this body, therefore, I pray Senators to drink deeply )( 
from pure fountains of homiletic truth. 

VII. 

Trusts a Legitimate Breed of Noxious Parentage. 

Mr. President, our present commercial disorders, trusts 
and concomitant evils are bitter fruits of noxious seed long 
ago sown. Dehberately do I affirm that, despicable as is the 
blood, trusts are a legitimate breed. Specifically stated, con- 
ceived in special privilege, nurtured by protective tariff, and 
fattened upon public smll of every kind, the overgrown wards 
of Repubhcanism, following the principles of their being. 



160 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

turn naturally to pillage as a duck to water or a sow to her 
wallow. Their denial, I doubt not, will be forthcoming. The 
country expects not a plea of guilty. In the State of Florida 
an old negro, arraigned upon a charge of larceny of an alli- 
gator from a farm where the young of these quadrupeds are 
reared, is said to have pleaded "not guilty" to "de allerga- 
shuns" and to have defied "de allergater." You insolently 
"stand pat," a paraphrase of the negro's plea; but to "stand 
pat," as a plea, is dilatory — is the equivalent of standing 
mute; but you shall be put to trial. Trusts, I repeat, are a 
legitimate breed. By no accepted tables can they be looked 
upon as bastards. 

Trusts have conformed, if to none other, to the law of bio- 
genesis, for their strain of blood, such as it is, has remained 
unmixed for generations. True in every trait and lineament, 
from father to son, their ancestral line, not heading in, but 
linking with the Tories of Revolutionary times, reaches its 
polluted source in George III; and well do they boast such 
princely ancestry, for, although possessed not of the prince's 
courage, they inherit both his meanness and his rapacity. 
Here, however, sir, I must pause, for, sir, not at this late day 
would I by word or deed do aught of injustice to even that 
cruel monarch. George III, to be sure, was narrow and cruel, 
but his tyranny was a direct force. As king did he stifle 
justice and look with disdain upon liberty. By brute force 
was his royal prerogative maintained. He therefore laid 
tribute without mercy, taxed without representation, filled 
his dominions with squalor, and trampled ruthlessly upon his 
subjects. Yet all this, Mr. President, was in strict accord 
with the genius of monarchy. As king, so went the theory, 
he could do no wrong. That despised prince, let it be said 
here in strict justice to his memory, however, abhorred a 
thief; a thief, sir, in the ordinary development of cupidity. 
Unlike his descendants, George hated not his colonies, but 
far different sentiments stimulated his policies toward them. 
His conduct in America showed forth but the genius of em- 
pire, and colonial challenge ef kingly prerogative, the asser- 
tion of the right of self-government — these were the things 
which started royal armies hitherward. But I mean not to 
dwell upon events of the Revolution. All that was hateful to 
American liberty, however, did not depart from our shores 
with the departure of British arms. British sentiment, dis- 
trust of the people, and love of power found lodgment still. 
Toryism, though despoiled of its personal king, demanded "a 




T. L. COX. 

Whom Jeff Davis Always Referred to as the Head of the "Little Rock Ring.' 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 161 

strong government," one rested upon wealth, privilege and 
class. Nor during all these years has Toryism abandoned 
its claim to the throne. Born to rule, according to their 
creed, the classes view the masses only as slaves, by nature 
constituted by their work to enrich and glorify the king. 

Such is the spirit of the class; and so, I say, the spirit of 
George lii still animates persons and parties in this country. 
You have but to look about and around you. Tribute and 
favoritism, political debauchery in its most maUgnant forms, 
coalition, combination and conspiracy rule the hour ; whereby, 
sir, so mighty has become predatory wealth, so widespread 
and assertive have become the dominions of Mammon, that 
did their illustrious ancestor behold the vast extent of their 
power, typihed in the Standard Oil Company and hke aggre- 
gations of iniquity, George III must groan in disappointment, 
while the very devil himself, swelling the chorus of his imps 
in hell, chants in fiendish exultation. And yet, this is Amer- 
ica ; America, proud, boasted America, home of the free 1 Ah, 
yes, the selfsame; the same, Mr. President, which aforetime, 
pledged her all for independence ; the same which, in the crisis 
of revolution, testing the devotion of her people, put mon- 
archy everywhere, for the first time in the history of the 
world, in mortal terror. Oh, America, albeit today! May 
the God of Moses, in infinite mercy and pity, rescue liberty 
in America from a thralldom more abject than Egyptian bond- 
age, to the infidelity of gold. His faithful poor in every State 
in the American Union may He deUver from that sweat and 
toil which brings no reward ! Strike down the power of Pha- 
raoh, oh, God of Israel ! 

Ah, Mr. President, looking now over our past, I would ask 
what, after all, is indeed independence! Harnessed by a 
hundred favoring laws, our commerce terminates in the lap 
of luxury, while the people, robbed of its fruits, are lashed 
without mercy to renewed toil. And in a country, too, blessed 
by Providence beyond other portions of the earth. Behold, 
in proof, the extent of this RepubHc ; its boundless area of 
fruitful soil, its mountain ranges, its deep carrying rivers, 
its lakes and seas. The very bowels of the earth are over- 
flowing, so generous has been the bounty of Almighty God. 
Charged, too, are now found to be the very heavens with inex- 
haustible riches ; and everywhere the needs and pleasures of 
life are piled with Godly prodigality and paternal amphtude. 
Sir, I indulge no poetic fancy ; for language in its meagerness 
may not depict the natural glories of this Republic. Indeed, 



162 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

from the beginning America seems to have been foreordained 
a special habitat for liberty and independence. As if by 
specification and plan divinely prepared, here has been 
wrought a Utopia in bhssful reahty for us and for our chil- 
dren. For, I can not forego the proud declaration, and I 
make it in reverential thankfulness to God, that nowhere has 
the sun yet kissed a spot nor set upon a foot of earth where 
liberty is more indigenous or where by nature independence 
is courted with the same passionate al3andon as in America. 
Such, too, was the grateful reahzation of the fathers when 
first they came into their so glorious inheritance. Re-read 
our blood-stained history ; read it in the yet glimmering lights 
of Concord and Lexington, when, for the sake of liberty on 
this continent, the very foundations of the deep were broken 
up and the heavens opened for independence. The doctrines 
at that time enshrined it were needless now to recount. 
Enough that today they are the sum total of Democratic 
faith ; and heaven vouchsafe that those principles once again 
inspire administration, diifusing uniformly the blessings of 
free government amongst the people of every section, to the 
utter rout of Mammon from our affairs, public and private. 

Mr. President, pardon me again for slight personal allu- 
sion. It will, I trust, tend to advance the thought which I 
have desired to impress upon this body. It will be readily 
recalled that a Republican President only recently sent to 
the Congress a most remarkable Democratic special message. 
In that document, the Chief Executive, rising above his party, 
boldly, bravely, and truthfully dealt wdth conditions to which 
I have here alluded. Without regard to party that message 
thrilled the American people from Florida to California. It 
was a bugle call as from the skies ; the people heard and took 
hope, for its truth went to the heart of the Nation. Yet, sir, 
quite a contrary though simultaneous effect was produced in 
other quarters. Indeed, the livid streak through the Senate 
which marked the passage of that document had not faded 
from sight ere proof of good markmanship told that the 
President had hit his aim; for instantly from plutocratic 
press and spokesman there arose, as from sewer mouths, a 
dense sickening odor which stifled the air and affronted the 
nostrils of all decency. 

Thinking to abate the force of that message, members of 
the President's own party joined, more or less openly, in 
whatever criticisms might serve their purpose, for the Chief 
Executive, deliberately defying adverse influences, had added 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 163 

fuel to a Democratic conflagration which must sweep the land. 
Mark you, Senators, I say "sweep the land;" yes, sweep the 
land until corporate power be controlled, predatory methods 
all consumed and their ashes sifted upon the winds. Not as 
a Senator only but as a citizen of this Republic do T proclaim 
that of right this is a free country. ''Equal risrhts to all" 
is at eternal enmity with "special privilesfe." Monopoly is 
an alien, therefore, and an enemy. Not the person, but the 
wicked policy of Georsre ITT, in whatever form of dis^iise it 
were, that threatened the inalienable ria^hts of man. Ah, sir, 
those policies must be driven from our councils. For if at 
last we have but to choose as between forms of tyranny, then 
the infidelity of ^old is more to be despised. And yet, so bold 
has become this tyranny, seeine^ the arousinsr temper of the 
people and failincr lonsrer to beg-uile them, the trusts inso- 
lently, by traduction, seek to drive and intimidate our lead- 
ers. But America is not "Russia: nor are Americans Rus- 
sians. Lovers of peace, still Americans love liberty as noth- 
iner else; and, sir, they have both the courasre and ability to 
defend it. Ah, my words in certain ouarters may be laua-hed 
to scorn, while plutocracy revels in feigned security amidst 
dance and song. Sir, their songs are not music; their rev- 
elry proceeds not from joy, for music is the languasre of love 
and joy; true joy is the flower of righteousness which blooms 
in a heart softened by love. I know, Mr. President, that in 
what we are weak the trusts are strong. There is a magic 
potency in wealth, gold, stocks and bonds. Yet a weahness 
there is to be found, and against that weakness the people 
are peculiarly stroncr: for the trusts, bold, brazen and 
hausrhty. they are still as Goliath meeting Da-^T-id. The God 
of Israel is with the people of this Republic: He shall be 
their strength, so that the powers of hell shall not prevail 
against them. 

Nor do T care for your denial that this is a Christian coun- 
try. Be not, however, deceived. God is the same todav and 
forever. Be warned — ye can not serve two masters. If Baal 
be God, serve him, but, sir, we challensre you to a test of fire 
from heaven. The trust of the people is in the living God. 
In our hearts, if this motto has been stricken from our coin. 
His love there is ineffaceable. By His power shall be lifted 
the cause of right and justice. 

Sir, I would not by any allusion leave mvself open to mis- 
construction. By an executive order "In God we trust" was 
stricken from our coin. I have just alluded to that. Yet I 



164 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

wish to make definite a statement of my opinion that, under 
the circumstances, whatever the purpose, the order was con- 
sistent with the practices of the Republican party. ''In God 
we trust" upon money which, controlled by national banks, 
is daily prostituted to do the work of the devil was blas- 
phemous in the eyes of mankind. Upon a money system so 
utterly Christless what a bald hypocrisy! Yes, strike it off, 
out of decent respect for Almighty God, and leave to the peo- 
ple its restoration when government itself shall be rescued 
from debauchery and greed. Yes, doff the very livery of 
heaven; for by the authority of God's word T charge that you 
serve the devil. Strong language? If I be admonished of 
the teachings of Christ that "if one take your cloak give him 
your coat also," I reply that the selfsame Christ scourged 
the thieves from the temple. 

But, Mr. President, at this junctcure mj mind has been 
somewhat diverted from its original course. Observations 
concerning Christ and God, naturally suggest to the mind 
the early history and some of the early professions of the 
Republican party. And turning to history, I would ask, 
where is that great party of boasted emancipation, that 
vaunted God and morality band of crusaders who, more than 
forty years ago, assumed administration of this Government! 
Did some echo answer, "Wedded, hopelessly wedded, to the 
idolatrs^ of gold?" Yes, and that, too, from the very begin- 
ning of its career. Prating long and loud of freedom, work- 
ing at hypocrisy, in season and out, that party, diref^t de- 
scendant of George III, under cover of solicitude for human- 
ity has steadily intrenched against the ultimate indignation 
and vengeance of the people. Departing from its early pro- 
fessions, that party has erected in every portion of this fair 
land altars to the money god, and in them installed the priest- 
hood of Mammon. 

VIII. 

Fruits of a Protective Tariff. 

Through protective tariffs merciless tribute is forced upon 
the masses; commerce, bound hand and foot, is brought a 
helpless though struggling victim; labor, blessed hope of 
mankind under free institutions, brutally driven as galley 
slaves, as national banks bind as with cords of steel our every 
energy while plutocracy in fiendish glee and ravenous glut- 
tony gorges its putrid stomach. Stop, Senators; in God's 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 165 

name I beseech you, think. Still, sir, I ask, what do you? 
Today you fiddle while Rome is burning-. You sit here mark- 
ing time lest you do something. Today, pending a frightful, 
a criminal, panic, made out of the whole cloth, conspired with 
aforethought and brutal malignancy as a pretext to accom- 
plish what the Aldrich bill is now attempting for the national 
banks under cover of relief to the country, you drone away 
the time here and hide your conduct and purposes pending 
an election. What the whole world knows you might know 
if you wished to know, that tinkering with the currency is the 
very worst thing that could be done, unless with one fell 
swoop the Congress wipe from existence every vestige of the 
national banking system. Building upon a rotten foundation, 
adding to the superstructure, may postpone but it will not 
avert what must inevitably come. A stable currency, if you 
really msh it, bottom your entire circulation upon Govern- 
ment notes at par mth all coin in paying the debts, public 
and private, and expenses of the Government. But no, con- 
trarywdse, you hug the national bank in fond embrace, so 
effective has this system demonstrated itself to bind the peo- 
ple in hopeless slavery. Ah, ''slavery!" The very term 
awakens some of my earliest recollections. Mr. President, it 
is said to be not in good form to speak carelessly upon the 
subject of ropes in a family some member of which has 
been hanged. But the word ''slavery" — this term, in 
view of the present condition of the people, reminds me of the 
early oratory of the Republican party, when Tor>Tsm was 
struggling for power. I recall the language of Charles Sum- 
ner, speaking at great Fanueil Hall, so early as 1855. Re- 
ferring to the subject of tenure slavery, a system superin- 
duced hj Northern sales of negroes into the South, Mr. Sum- 
ner then said: 

Not that I love the Union less, but freedom more, do I now, in pleading 
this great cause, insist that freedom, at all hazards, shall be preserved. God 
forbid that for the sake of the Union we shall sacrifice the very thing for 
which the Union was made. 

Yes; "God forbid;" such was the invocation. "God for- 
bid that for the sake of the Union" we should sacrifice free- 
dom. Freedom was more to be prized than Union, was it 
not, sir? And what was freedom at that time, that it should 
be of so great value? Sir, I tender no sectional issue. Nor 
do I wish now to detract one iota from what was then said 
of the freedom as applied solely to tenure slavery. What 
was said so long ago by Charles Sumner is brought forward 
only to prove the value of freedom, that it is worth more 



166 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



than Union. The party of Charles Sumner, then, was ready, 
if confronted with such a last alternative to secure liberty for 
the tenure slaves of the South, to overthrow our Government. 
I shall not here enter upon any analysis of the motives which 
actuated men during that period. Much fervid oratory was 
indulged, humanity was stirred, tenure slavery was doomed. 
I here make no issue; no one now defends that system; in 
that form negro slavery is gone forever. Indeed, I make 
bold to say that to the individuals who suffered it that system 
was wrong; not at that period wrong legally, for, wrong as 
it was ethically and morally, the law permitted sales by the 
North to the South and recognized property in slaves. But 
what I emphasize is that even under those circumstances 
negro freedom, so Republicans proclaimed, was more to be 
desired than Union itself. Freedom from tenure servitude 
let it be ; no one elsewhere, certainly none in the South,^ would 
wish it otherwise. Nor can my mere mention of it in this 
connection afford opportunity, by seizing upon a dead issue, 
to divert the public mind from the living present. But your 
professions of devotion to liberty; how do your professions 
comport with what you have actually done? Your great love 
of freedom; where may we now look — what has been its 
depths, its lengths, and breadths? Ah, following appeals to 
sentiments of humanity which secured to you a long lease of 
power, what evidence of your love, what, indeed, have you not 
done to fasten upon whites and blacks alike a servitude in 
comparison with whose hopelessness slavery were a boon? 
*'God forbid that for the sake of the Union we should 
sacrifice the very thing for which the Union was made." 
"God forbid;" and yet both have been sacrificed, for upon 
the ruins of our erstwhile Republic flourishes today a feudal 
dynasty whose base servitudes rival Normandy or England 
in the palmiest periods of feudal tenures. Your doctrines 
have not been extended, your great love seems to have 
stopped with the negro, and even him you have finally be- 
trayed. 

Sir, confronted as is the country vnih dire calamity, I 
should in all just reason afford not to even the narrower 
souls the slightest pretext for stirring up passion or sectional 
discord, whereby to draw away the public mind. A ruse of 
that sort, however, can but produce general disgust. Tran- 
quility between North and South concerning sectional issues 
has closed, I feel sure, forever. Be destiny what it may, the 
future is our own. What is best for one shall be best for all, 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 167 

for by our uuited hands, working to a common purpose, be- 
neath a common flag which floats proudly and resolutely over 
the dead past, seen and respected emblem of an unconquer- 
able people, it is within our determination at every hazard to 
strive without ceasing until there shall be an equal and exact 
diffusion of justice, wholly disregardful of class, creed or 
station. And therefore I can have no ambition to stir up 
memories of the past, for their own sake. Yet, Mr. Presi- 
dent, I am not sensible of any just demand that on this occa- 
sion I lend myself wholly to mere oversensitiveness. Duty 
forbids that I shut my eyes out of a false delicacy. History, 
sir; shall we be truant to that? Upon the contrary, I, for 
one, shall dare look there at all times for what may be made 
of service to my country. And looking to history, what, I 
ask, under the influence of benign Republican love, has been 
the sad plight of the people, blacks no less than whites, now 
for more than one whole generation? Ah, what a long fu- 
neral train, what a dreary catalogue of evils. Behold the 
Republic prior to the sixties and behold it now; in the spe- 
cial light of that love for freedom which was so lustily pro- 
claimed. With the ending of the Civil war, "freedom" vin- 
dicated, victorious humanitarianism fully empowered, there 
began the work of love whose endearing tokens we now 
behold. 

Review, sir, the panoplied retinue, mo\T.ng in somber state- 
liness before your enrapt and ravished imagination. Head- 
ing the column are national banks, crowned and with ermine 
flowing, bearing each for itself the flag of our Union, emblazed 
in glittering letters upon its undulating folds, "In God we 
trust;" next are a long line by fours, tariff barons, capaii- 
soned and sable plumed; trusts, by tens abreast, fill the cen- 
ter, constituting more than a third of all; following these, 
currency manipulators, bearing gold standards; then, in the 
order named, a motley swarm, headed by 2,500 multi-million- 
aires, 25,000 millionaires, and, still coming, railway mergers, 
bank frauds, insurance frauds, corruption funds, market 
gamblers, bucket shops, graft, commercial three-card monte 
men, blighting panic, lockouts, government by injunction, po- 
litical filibusterers, legislative abasement to plutocracy, gag 
rules, billion-dollar appropriations, waste, fraud, public de- 
bauchery, oppression of the poor, and a thousand other evils 
make up the endless train. Oh, what wondrous love ! PIu- 
manity, sir, the wide world over, hearing your early cries in 
behalf of freedom, has given heart and hand to the Republi- 



168 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

can party, thus plighting faith to its fidelity and devotion. 
And now, sir, that great fidelity — what has been its course? 
Ah, in vain do you seek to cover the fact or to divert atten- 
tion from the worst. The whole world knows of your mor- 
ganatic loves ; denial can not longer defer the hour of domes- 
tic wrath. Oh, erstwhile devotee of gentle, winsome liberty, 
for shame that the love of gold has enslaved; that power's 
lecherous lust has enthralled your manhood. Return, oh, 
return, truant spouse to a proper sense of domestic fidelity 
and felicity, for, related morganatically, though you may 
boast, to Enghsh royalty through George III, know, vain 
and foolish one, that your bastard ancestor is none other than 
whom, once upon a time, George Washington flung, flagrante 
delicto, from the throat of his beloved country. Be assured, 
too, that history will repeat itself in its own good time. You 
can not avert it. Conciliatory, and slow to resistance, the 
American people now mean to drive you from power. 

Paul Revere, riding again, is shouting from house to house 
in swift warnings, for your recent panic, withering industry 
like a hot blast, only too plainly now manifests your ultimate 
purpose. Whatever hope of peace existed, this last means 
war — war to the extermination of autocracy, war upon pred- 
atory wealth in all its forms. But, Mr. President, there is 
something more to which I w^sh to invite attention as mani- 
festing the present alarming temper and power of the trusts. 
Sir, I charge that they have adopted a system to corrupt the 
very fountains of individualism and of public moralit5\ Our 
very children, the hope of the future, these they have insidi- 
ously set craftily to ensnare. Entering our churches and 
schools, masked and covered by pretended bounty and munifi- 
cence, cold, calculating autocracy would metamorphose child- 
hood, dry up the very springs of love, and steal away that 
soft and guileless innocence which characterizes the heart in 
the first flush of virginity, manly vigor and power. Not con- 
tent with robbing the present, they calculate upon enslaving 
the future. Not only would they steal from the tabernacle 
the ark of our covenant, but transform our colleges into tem- 
ples to Baal. Broadcast would they sow seed of disloyalty, 
not alone to the brotherhood of man, but to the Fatherhood 
of God. Deny it? Ah, yes; denial is the expected, the uni- 
versal resort of guilt. But, if you dare, I challenge you to 
put yourself upon the country. Ah, upon the contrary, what 
do they? Throw themselves, sir, upon the ample bosom of a 
grasping press, while generously enlarging endowments to 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 169 

churches and colleges — throwing up defenses, making ram- 
parts against the power of the people. 

Only recently, think, sir, here was published a denunciation 
and slander of your Chief Executive by a stall-fattened col- 
lege professor, all because in a brave, democratic, special 
message, bluntly Western in directness, the President dared 
to call a spade a spade. And this most mighty prodigy of 
conservatism and wisdom — who is he? Whoever he may be, 
it was quite fitting that at the very crest of the present panic 
the music of his oration should have delighted the ear, as 
doubtless it did, of the New York Bankers' Association. Ah, 
"Day," I am told; Day is the name! James R. Day, the 
very same, sir! James R., chancellor of Syracuse Univer- 
sity, paradoxical as it may seem. ''Day," indeed! Period 
of effulgence, the antipode of darkness and night ! Nowhere 
do our common calendars show it; nor have astronomical re- 
searches taken note of such a Day. In Genesis, it is true, the 
first seven days only are mentioned. Presumably, then, 
James R. is not of these. Logically, therefore, I take it he 
must have been prior in time; in fact the sum total of that 
darkness and void immediatelv antedating' that negative or 
nebulous status spoken of in (xenesis as "In the beginning," 
thus identif>ninsr James R. with the primitive, plutonic Day! 
His frantic frothings I should not stoop for a moment to dig- 
nify before the world did not they, made when and where 
they were, fittingly show forth the struttinsr boastfulness and 
daring arroarance of the money power. It is not enousrh that 
he has slunk out of sight into the stiff, thick niirht of his 
original obscurity. His sentiments were representative, nor 
shall the trusts go unwhipped for his bestial vomit against 
democratic truth. 

Among other thing-s, speaking of the recent sr>ecial mes- 
sage, James R., taking a srolden spoon temporarilv from his 
mouth, said: "I charge the whole business wnth bearina: the 
earmarks" ("the whole business" being the whole messacre, 
sir) "of disloval slander and defamation of the commerce of 
the country." "Earmarks of disloyal slander" — those are 
his words — "disloyal slander to the commerce of the coun- 
try;" as if there was a loyaltv owing anywhere other than 
to the Constitution of the Union." "They are not." savs 
Mr. Day (referring to the President's "attacks''^ "judicial, 
specific, and particular. Thev are sweeping, reckless, indis- 
criminate, and, upon their face, for the most part, false." 
Thus pleads the incomparable criminal la"^^er, the paradox- 



170 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

ical, sunless Day. With the green-bag load, bent upon tech- 
nicality and delay, he ludicrously strides up and down, wrink- 
ling his brow with msdom, and the while busying himself 
with a show of assurance characteristic of the professional 
shyster who counts as success whatever wins. After roundly 
denouncing the President, this little Syracuse monstrosity 
counsels to New York banks, as if also master of the people, 
"to stop the ravings of the demagogue, serve vigorous notice 
upon the men" (the President he means, and others who hold 
to Democratic doctrine of the kind mentioned) "serve vig- 
orous notice upon the men ivho are defaming our business 
men and discrediting our trade by representing our products 
as the sum of all villainies in fraud and adulteration." "If 
you will call to account," said he — "call to account" was his 
language — "call to account the men who are depreciating our 
bonds and stocks by comparing our great centers" (the 
bucket shops, he means, sir) "of brokerage and exchange with 
a den of thieves," and so forth, "sixty days" — so he speaks 
for those who precipitated the panic — "will put an end to 
our hard times." Only sixty days; so criminal, then, is their 
control and manipulation of the panic! Confession, indeed! 
What egregious effrontery! But, further, Mr. Day counsels 
his masters "to see to it" — the language of command and 
authority — to see to it that our great railways have fair 
play in their efforts to make new adjustments" (new adjust- 
ments is what he calls it) "to meet the demands of a fabu- 
lously growing country." 

God save the mark ! We now are made aware for the first 
time to what must be refered the interminable, vexations, 
mergers, and rebating delays and overcharges with which 
the country has been so long inflicted. Mr. Day, following 
this grave counsel, turns to the people and in stilted pedan- 
tics warns them that they "must rise up out of suspicion, 
ignorance and distrust concerning economic conditions and 
refuse to give their votes to men who defame their country," 
terms, sir, manifestly synonymous,_in the vocabulary of Syra- 
cuse University, with "men who defame our tariff barons and 
trust magnates of New England." "If you acquiesce," com- 
tinues Mr. Day, now again speaking to the bankers of New 
York, "if you acquiesce and by silence consent to the infa- 
mous work of the slander-monger and permit" — permit is the 
exact word — "permit the widening of the breach between our 
thrifty classes (stock gamblers and captains of graft, I take 
it, was immodest, sir), "and the restless, anarchistic Social- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 171 

ists" (the toiling masses is a proper translation); ''if you 
look on without uttering a word against an agitation which 
invites the anarchist to sharpen his dagger, that invites the 
poor" — mark his words — "that invites tne poor to take prop- 
erty from the rich by violence because it has been stolen from 
them * * * then before another half decade blood will flow in 
our streets and the Night iiiders' torch will hght the heavens 
with appalhng glare." Thus, in plutonic gloom, perched 
upon Syracuse University, quoth its sable-robed, though 
hlliputian, prophet. With what boldness, what assumption, 
does plutocracy at last outhne its campaign against pubhc 
servants who dare challenge its unbridled sway. Ah, sir, 
there has been denial that Mr. Day speaks for the trusts. 
For whom, then, does he speak? Not certainly for the peo- 
ple at large whom he has characterized as ' ' anarchistic Social- 
ists." "The whole people" are groveling "in suspicion, 
ignorance and distrust concerning economic conditions, ' ' does 
he not charge? His, sir, is emphatically a special plea for 
"our thrifty classes," and he speaks for them. 

The wrongs of the railways are called "efforts at new 
adjustments," and he speaks for them. His whole plea is a 
sugar-coated, technical evasion in defense of commercial brig- 
andage and is meant to arouse wealth to greater relentless- 
ness and violence. In one breath it is maintained that "the 
attack is not judicial, specific, definite;" in another he charges 
that the message ' ' upon its face, for the most part, is false. ' ' 
Too definite to be understood, yet most of it, prima facie, 
false! False, most of it, upon its face, against nobody in 
particular. "A slander," says the voice from Syracuse, 
"upon our great centers of exchange, upon our thrifty 
classes!" The charges, it is complained, have not been defi- 
nite, not specific; the allegations are not ample to constitute 
the olfense. Very well ; there is a new indictment : ' ' We, the 
people of America, of whatever party, adherents to the doc- 
trine of equal rights to all, in the name and by authority of 
the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, do 
accuse the Standard Oil Company and John D. Rockefeller, 
its high priest, of the crime of treason, plutocratic robbery, 
and conspiracy to subvert government, committed as follows, 
towit: 

"The said Standard Oil Company, and John D. Rockefel- 
ler, within and without the United States of America, for the 
last twenty-five or more years then and there, not having the 
fear of Almighty God before their eyes, but being seduced, 



172 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

persuaded, allured and instigated by the blandishments and 
enticements of the devil and his imps of hell, inclusive of 
"standpatters" against taritf revision, unlawfully, felo- 
niously, wilfully, mahciously, dehberately, wantonly, wick- 
edly, mendaciously and without decency or feehngs of human- 
ity; by means of national banks, tariffs, currency manipula- 
tions, gold standard, by stock exchanges, by produce ex- 
changes, by bucket shops, and other gambling devices; by 
merger, conspiracy, pools, trusts, combinations; by subsi- 
dizing legislation and press and public institutions, including 
churches and colleges whenever and wherever practicable; by 
watering stocks, by fraud, deceit, common lying, rebating, 
overcharge, adulteration, fraudulent insurance, and thefts of 
insurance funds ; by boodle election funds, graft, thefts, three- 
card monte tricks, by a wicked colonial policy, by a pubhc 
profligacy, by special legislation, and by other wicked and 
devihsh means and de\ices, conceived by the devil aforesaid, 
and, in his absence, by Pierpont Morgan and John D. Rocke- 
feller and their abettors, whereby the defendants, and each 
of them, have despoiled all the people, brought liberty to 
shame, and in the manner and by the means aforesaid the 
said corporations, trusts, and other defendant conspirators, 
instigated by the devil aforesaid and by his imps of hell, 
including the said "standpatters," have wickedly, jointly and 
severally set up, and attempted to set up, over the free peo- 
ple of America an ohgarchy of gold, against the inalienable 
rights of men, the justice and peace of God, and the exalted 
dignity of organized labor. 

Such is the charge which the country makes against preda- 
tory wealth. 

Sir, I now take leave of a little chancellor of a big univer- 
sity. Let his original obscurity fold again silently and con- 
genially about him. In the amphtude of time sufQcient intel- 
hgence may there penetrate to quicken sensibihty, if not to 
repentance, nevertheless to the truth that obscurity is the 
proper habitat of small minds. The alarming sentiment, sir, 
of which Mr. Day w^as made the voice is alone what concerns 
the country. Upon every hand coming conflict presses nearer 
and nearer. Insatiate greed and vaunting ambition out of 
desperated pride will rule, if possible, or ruin. I repeat, as 
applicable, the words of the immortal Lincoln: "The Repub- 
lic can not long endure half slave and half free!" If not 
exact, it is the substance; and what was then said of negro 
slavery apphes broadly today to whites and blacks, slaves of 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 173 

graft and greed. And, Mr. President, seeing now the resolu- 
tion of plutocracy, let the Democarcy, let patriotic men in 
every State, indifferent to party lash and party line, make 
common cause in the November elections. Not as a partisan, 
but as a Senator and a citizen 1 pray God that the people, 
perceiving, will act resolutely in time to avert the danger. 
Party lines in such a crisis ; let them, sir, go to the winds. I 
care not whom, joining hands with me in a common cause 
against the enemies of my country, be his tenets what they 
may, I hold him my brother. But woe to defenders of plu- 
tocracy, crawling, creeping, cringing travesties in the degen- 
erate hue of Adam, so wholly lost are all such to humanity! 
Before the forum of the people let plutocracy answer. In 
the nature of debate here, if argument were necessarj^, such a 
remedy is inadequate. To debate is futile, for those who will 
not hear are deaf to your entreaties, while the wilhng mil- 
lions have been long convinced. Action, decisive action, must 
be our motto. But, sir, at this time I can not wholly forbear, 
indeed, the intolerant insolence of gold, so deep-seated is its 
arrogance, a royal swagger so characterizes its bearing, its 
tone and manner is so insistently threatening and virulent, 
that I can not at this hour wholly ignore it without a sense 
that duty to my country remains undischarged. 

It is false, the deceptive cry, that Americans, any consider- 
able portion, or that any part in America is at enmity with 
honest wealth. Nor has violence against plutocracy any- 
where been counseled. The despotism of gold, while there is 
determined resolution to overthrow it, it is to be done in 
order and with decency by the American ballot. Violence? 
Sir, whatever of this has been counseled is found in pubhca- 
tions and speeches inspired by plutocracy itself. But, sir, 
what would they understand or mean as "violence?" Godly 
wrath? Scourging thieves? Say you that such is violence? 
Ah, Mr. President, what means open, defiant denunciation of 
the masses "as suspicious, ignorant and distrustful!" A 
merciless panic, criminally precipitated, followed by brazen 
boasting that it will be lifted only at the price of submission 
to Mammon? Here, then, is your violence! And if blood 
at any time shall flow in our streets or the heavens be lighted 
up by the Night Riders, be assured, Senators, that that glare, 
however appalling, heating the crimson flood at the feet of 
plutocracy, will metamorphose into a lake of everlasting fire. 

Mr. President, be it far from me to excite needless alarm, 
but be not deceived by the conservatism of the people. For 



174 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAYIS 

forty years or more patience has marked their every action; 
but patience, worn and. discredited, has given place to resolu- 
tion, iiaoical retorms must now be inaugurated, a swift 
return to lundamentai justice. Dallying and procrastination, 
i'rmtmg m mock periormances here, must give place to ear- 
nest ouedience to puuuc demands, bir, snail it be deemed 
chimerical, such a sentiment expressed m this great body — 
ior here and now 1 do proclaim that this country, if it shall 
enjoy true prosperity, ii it shall again take its place as lead- 
ing among the christian nations of the earth, must return 
to the old ways, the old sentiments, the old behefs. Not to 
superstition, not to old errors. iSio, but to old simphcity, 
which regards justice; to old honesty and love whose correla- 
tion is the brotherhood of man. Turning backward? No I 
Turning forward and upward — manward and UodwardI 

Ah, do I dare declare before the Senate, before the wide 
world, that putting down the lust for gold, American ideals 
must now be conformed to those simpler, aye, grander truths 
of immortal being. The false and dishonest which honey- 
comb commercial hfe, misnomered "thrift," a synonym for 
"graft," these, all these, and their kindred pestilentiailly 
swarming everywhere must perish under the tread of right 
and justice. {Severe as have been its tests, the temper of the 
American people can endure no more. Kotten business and 
commercial structurals, if I mistake not the American tem- 
per, are doomed. The wonder is that, considering that tem- 
per, there has been tolerated for a moment amongst them a 
system which must ultimately work destruction to aU for 
which government was instituted. Proudly have we boasted 
of the vastness and greatness of our Eepubho. Press and 
pubhc men alike magnify the splendor of great cities in 
almost every State. The public domain is ample to house 
and feed the habitable globe. Unparalleled systems of rail- 
way, threading into rich mining, manufacturing and agricul- 
tural sections, are laden with incomparable carrying, while 
phenomenal works, both pubhc and private, everywhere meet 
the eye; all, all to what end! Glory, sir; only glory 1 That 
glory which has regard only for the jealousies and ambitions 
of surrounding nations. Prowess and statecraft "glory," 
which means "might" in war; greatness in comparison with 
other parts of the world. But, Mr. President, true glory in 
none of these is to be found. Besides, the people of America 
are a Christian people; and is not ours a Kepubhc? Essen- 
tially grounded upon justice, its cardinal principle the broth- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 175 

erhood of man, all glory is vain, every mark of greatness 
must grow dim and fade away, if it be not rested firmly upon 
individualism, which, sir, is the chief glory of man. Ah, the 
glory of the Republic! 

IX. 

His Powerful Peroration. 

Mr. President, be the Senate not in doubt, my sentiments 
are my own; and so, in my place here, denying that what 
glitters, or that mere brute power is glory, I charge that until 
equality is assured and labor and merit accorded justice, so 
that individuals, men, be unshackled in life's fitful race, shame 
rather than glory must be the portion of this Republic. Baby- 
lon, Egypt, Rome, begloomed in paganism, splendid in na- 
tional acliievements, imsurpassed in arts, letters and archi- 
tecture, whose wealth dazzled mankind and whose arms ter- 
rified, what, nevertheless, have we at last more than they? 
The towers of Babylon have crumbled; ruins, it is true, of 
the coliseum, yet the name, but the glory of Rome is only 
ruins. Ah, I need not be assured that there, sir, "still stands 
the Pyramids." Yes; but bald and dead. Amidst the sti- 
fling solitude, massively, brutally, the Pyramids have with- 
stood decay, vain monuments of stone, blindly peering into 
oblivion, as if fated to mock that national glory whose foun- 
dations are reared not in the hearts or affections of man. 
Sir, I honestly pray you, let us promise for this Republic a 
different glory. I would put it down to ravages of time, 
make it impregnable to the elements of decay. I hold with 
the belief of perpetuity in government. Dissolution and 
death are penal, necessarily — the awful price with which gov- 
ernments no less than men purchase so-called "pleasure and 
glory" for a season. Contrarywise, whatever is good in the 
essential constitution of being survives forever. Condition 
the Republic, then, sir, if you would avert its destruction; 
conform its resultants to an immortal environment from 
whence alone proceeds whatever is of lasting moment. Re- 
store this Repubhc, therefore, I pray the Senate, to her prim- 
itive purpose; moor her back to an anchorage where justice 
is deep, where contentment and peace, as green sward, line 
the shore and far and \vide overspreading the skies, where 
eternal morning, from horizon to horizon seem vibrant in the 
rising glory of fraternity and union. Deem me not to impor- 
tune ; for what think you portends the unrest, the strikes, the 



176 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

distress, the suffering, and poverty in a land so naturally 
blessed? 

Sir, do men seek out these things of free choice and hug 
them in a fond embrace as so many blessings to themselves 
and to their children? Or are these conditions but incident 
to and irremedial even in boasted American government? 
No ! Let us for once try justice. To dispel unrest, murmur- 
ing discontent, suffering, and poverty, try happiness upon 
the American plan. Let the Government send amongst them 
an army of equal blessings and equal opportunity. Unfrock 
captains of industry and colonels of tariff regiments. Re- 
lieve from duty Major Privilege and Brigadier Favor. Court- 
martial General Graft; put in the guardhouse his Lordship 
Monopoly, and shoot, as a camp-follomng traitor, wherever 
and whenever found, venal vagabond journalism. With such 
an araiy thus unhampered, armed with justice, you may mow 
down discontent, put poverty to flight, and bind the people in 
the everlasting bonds of peace and happiness. With my 
whole heart I challenge you to assure to the people a fair 
and equal race for those prizes which the God of nature has 
set before us. A consummation so much to be desired will 
demand all of our energies and all of our courage. Deep- 
seated the influences which must be dislodged and routed. 
False standards, long unchallenged, are now to be supplanted 
by probity and fairness, while trusts and associated evils 
shall be summarily executed; beheaded, sir, mthout benefit 
of clergy. Monopoly, every vestige of it, if this Government 
shall be restored to the affection of the people, must be stran- 
gled without cessation while one spasm of ebbing life remains. 
Moreover, Mr. President, even corporate activity, useful as, 
with legal restraints, corporations may be, demands rigidity 
of legal control. Soulless and artificial, corporations only 
of all persons are by nature and constitution slaves, bereft of 
every right and privilege save those of slaves. Yet, under 
favoring laws, corporations, how have these baseborn crea- 
tures presumed to the place of master. Or can it be that, 
having builded other than was dreamed, there now, at the 
full tide of our material hopes, spring from the loins of the 
Republic monsters to seize upon and devour before our eyes 
the last hope of liberty? 

Sir, to this what some would make reply I am fully aware. 
Great public and private enterprise, it is observed with singu- 
lar irrelevance, call for united minds and means beyond the 
dream of individual effort. Sophistry such as that — the best, 




REV. BEN COX. 

Senator Davis's Pastor. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 177 

to be sure, where all is bad — is offered but to deceive. Never 
for a moment, as the enemy well knows, has the most radical 
of my school of believing inveighed against great corporate 
enterprise, public or private. Development, progress, ad- 
vancement, broad and deep and high, strike boldly for these 
and, in God's name, whatever betides, I shall follow you, 
scouting mere partisanry as but a shadow whose objective 
alone appeals to the highest hopes of the race. For one, I 
stand for government which for a verity assures to all men 
life, liberty and happiness — not to some, not to a few, but to 
all. Not for the greatest good to some, or even to all. No; 
but let wise laws be so ordered that the weak and lowly, the 
minority, and the individual citizen shall be amply assured. 
Utopian dream? Nay, nay! Majorities whipped by passion 
or swayed by selfishness, hurried blindly out of love of power, 
or maddened, as leaders often are, under the spell of wealth, 
crucify minorities; individualism is trampled upon merci- 
lessly and men by the thousands — men, women and children — 
are fed to the crunching wheels of Mammon, while other thou- 
sands are offered up in sacrificial piles to the god of gold. 

Mr. President, this Government, be assured, was designed 
to be, and so it shall remain, a government of, for and by the 
people. Eegardless of party, then, I pray that it may be 
restored to them. Short of that all exertion, all progress, 
though there be transitory gratulation, will at last disinte- 
grate and fall away. I, sir, would that we rear a great gov- 
ernment, builded not for the present alone, but for our chil- 
dren. Ideal government, so far from being incompatible, is 
in accord mth more comprehensive enterprise, with broader 
and deeper currents of civic and industrial life. Indeed, 
ideally a republic aspirant in all material progress may righ- 
teously challenge the envy of nations and coui't world-wide 
the admiration of civilized man. Good government is not 
incompatible with the acquisition of wealth nor udth the wise 
and beneficial disposition of it, but, sir, this is yet to be 
reaffirmed : That government possesses not elements of per- 
petuity where administration disregards justice and where 
public laws defy the equality of man. 

Mr. President, I can not bring myself to a conclusion of 
these remarks without some word of entreaty, something ad- 
dressed to a sense of humanity no less than to a sense of 
official responsibility. Before high heaven I implore the Sen- 
ate by the equanimity, justice and wide influence of your 
policies to win back the hearts of our people. I entreat not 



J 78 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

for the present alone, but for the future. I know, and you 
know, that without contentment there must be injustice, and 
if there be room for injustice, government, if liberty be not 
sacrificed, must be reformed. Sir, I am awfully sensible that 
we are but men; nor is there, therefore, unwarrant if it be 
inferred that we are possessed of the hopes, the weaknesses 
and the ambitions of men. Seize then. Senators, upon a pro- 
pitious moment. Restore the Republic to her primitive 
moorings. For fleeting show only at last is wealth, ambition, 
and power. While their enticements are seductive to selfish- 
ness and love of glory, be reminded in the full flush of life 
that in death they are separated from us. Besides, looking 
to posterity, the heritage which must be left them, can it be 
that at so enormous a cost we are willing to sacrifice our 
very children upon the altar of Moloch? Mr. President, in 
all ages monuments have been reared to perpetuate men and 
deeds. In our own day, libraries, beautifully emblazoned, 
and rich endowments to colleges, mark the yearning of men 
to be remembered. These monuments of stone, however, 
must decay. Not one stone will be left upon another. Disin- 
tegration ultimately shall sweep, as fine sand before the 
winds, every particle of the monumental piles. Mr. Presi- 
dent, chide me not when I plead for this Republic. To her, 
sir, have I given of my best love, and devoutly do I pray that 
it may be perpetuated to our children. I invoke all the power 
of this great body, therefore, to build here a monument. 
Looking abroad, nowhere is there beheld a single ray of hope 
for liberty if at last American institutions shall prove too 
weak to endure the strain which is now upon them. Let us 
build a living monument, mortar its foundations deeply, se- 
curely in the hearts of the people. Rising, sir, supremely 
above selfish considerations and awaking from every sinister 
or partisan dream, let the great Senate of the United States 
scourge from power predatory wealth and assure forever to 
us and to posterity the priceless blessings of equal rights and 
universal liberty. To such a consummation, while yet it is 
day, may God in his wisdom concentrate every energy of the 
Senate. 



CHAPTER X 

TO SUPPRESS DEALING IN FUTURES. 
I. 

One of Countky's Greatest Evils. 

The Senate having under consideration January 26, 1909, the bill (S. 1730) 
to prohibit and suppress gambling in futures, etc., in certain cases — 

Mr. Davis said : 

Mr. President : The bill which I present for the considera- 
tion of this honorable body is leveled at one of the greatest 
evils that exists in this Government, namely, gambling in the 
products of the soil ; gambling in the fruits of human industry, 
the fruits of honest toil. The object and purpose of this bill 
is to suppress this character of gambling, and I feel secure, 
sir, in the position I take, that if this bill shall receive the 
favorable consideration of Congress and shall become a law, 
it will accomplish the purpose for which it is intended and 
eradicate and destroy this great evil. 

The provisions of the bill, to my mind, are plain, simple, yet 
effective. Section 1 of the bill provides that it shall be unlaw- 
ful for any person, association of persons, corporation, or 
association of corporations, being in any State or Territory 
in the United States or any foreign country, to deliver, re- 
ceive, or transmit, directly or indirectly, or to be interested in 
or to aid in the receipt, delivery, or transmission, by means 
of the mail, telegraph, or telephone, any intelhgence or infor- 
mation, message, letter, or card, or other device whereby any 
intelhgence or information may be conveyed to any other 
parties, persons, or associations, or corporations, for their use 
and benefit, relating to or in any way concerning any trans- 
action suggested or proposed, whose true intent may be to 
gamble or speculate as to the future market price of any 
product of the soil, commonly known as "buying and selling 
futures," provided, that bona fide sales and delivery, accord- 
ing to contract, shall not subject the parties to such trans- 
actions to the penalties of this act. 

Mr. President, this section, when boiled down to its last 
analysis and relieved of its legal technical verbiage, provides 
this: That in any interstate or international transaction it 
shall be unlawful to use the mails, or the telegraph, or the tele- 
phone system for the purpose of conveying gambling proposi- 
tions between buyer and seller. 



180 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



That this may be done can not be disputed by any one who 
has given the subject careful consideration. For the present 
purpose of the argument, let us concede that buying and sell- 
ing lutures, as commonly understood among men, is a gam- 
bling transaction ; tlien, 1 take it, sir, that it will not be gain- 
said or denied that Congress, by proper bill, may provide that 
the pubnc mails may not De used lor the purpose ol assisting, 
aiding, or encouraging such a gambhng transaction, in like 
manner, Congress may say that the teiegrapn system and the 
telephone system of the country shall not be used for the pur- 
pose of conveying intelligence trom buyer to seller, or vice 
versa, in any transaction of this character. These, Mr. Pres- 
ident — tlie mail, tne teiegrapn, and the telepnone — are the 
three great means of communication, and if Congress shall, 
by law, place an inhibition upon their use for tms purpose, 
the day ol the speculator m the products of the soil will have 
ended, and the business of the cotton and other exchanges of 
the country will have ceased. Whenever we, by means of 
legislation, stop the means of communication between the 
buyer and the seller, this business of the gambler falls of its 
own weight, because when the feeders, through the instrumen- 
tahty of the mail, the telegraph, and the telephone, are shut 
otf , the gamblers at the fountain head of this nefarious scheme 
can not gamble among themselves, and their business is at 
once at an end. 

Section 1 of this bill, Mr. President, provides a penalty not 
only against the telegraph and telephone compames who re- 
ceive and transmit these messages, but it provides a penalty 
against the man who sends the message ; also against the man 
who receives the message. It so hedges in this illegal trans- 
action and makes the continuation of it so hazardous and im- 
certain that few will care to risk being caught in the meshes of 
the law in order to carry on this character of enterprise. Sec- 
tion 3 of the bill provides that it shall be unlawful for the 
postal authorities of the United States to receive for trans- 
mission, whether properly stamped or not, any letter or other 
thing mentioned in section 1 of this act ; and if such unlawful 
letter or card shall at any time come into the custody of any 
postal official, it shall be marked "unlawful," hied in a place 
securely locked under the supervision of the proper postmas- 
ter or postal official, and notice of its possession given at once 
to the district attorney in the district in which it is taken, or 
to the Attorney General, and the Postmaster General shall 



THE LJFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 181 

make and publish proper rules and regulations for carrying 
into effect this provision. 

Section 4 provides that if any officer of the Postal Depart- 
ment having the lawful possession of any such letter or other 
thing mentioned in sections 1 and 3 of this act, and shall, 
knowing the unlawful character of said letter, dehver the 
same, either to whom addressed or to any other person, except 
as provided in section 3, to the district attorney or Attorney 
General, shall be subject to indictment, and, upon conviction, 
shall be lined in any sum not less than $100 nor more than 
$5,000, and shall be removed from office, and thereafter shall 
not be eligible to hold any office of public trust. 

Section 5 of this act provides that any other person, other 
than postal officials, who shall violate this act shall be guilty 
of a felony, and upon conviction shall be confined in the peni- 
tentiary for not less than five nor more than fifteen years. 

Section 6 of this act provides that any corporation violating 
the provisions of this act shall forfeit and pay to the United 
States of America for each unlawful act not less than $10,000 
nor more than $100,000, to be recovered by proper suit, one- 
half to go to the informant and one-half to the Government. 
Besides, if the district attorney or the Attorney General shall 
be derelict in his duty, or shall neglect or refuse to enforce the 
provisions of this act, then section 6 empowers the President 
of the United States to appoint some suitable and proper per- 
son that will enforce it. 

This act, Mr. President, brief as it is, plain and explicit as 
are its terms, in my judgment, is a thorough and a complete 
remedy for the evil at which it is directed. 

Of course, it is not contended that Congress can regulate 
transactions happening or occurring wholly within any given 
State. It can only regulate such transactions as are inter- 
state or international, and this is all that is intended or con- 
templated by the bill under consideration. 

I had the honor, Mr. President, while Governor of my State, 
to draft a bill along these lines, applying to gambling trans- 
actions occurring wholly within the State of Arkansas. 

This bill, as drafted by me, was enacted into a law by the 
Legislature of Arkansas, and can be seen by reference to the 
acts of Arkansas for the session of 1907, and is much more 
drastic in its terms than the bill now under consideration. It 
provides a penalty against the use of the telegraph or tele- 
phone lines wholly within the State of Arkansas, for the pur- 
pose of conveying information between buyer and seller in 



182 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

one of these gambling transactions. The Western Union Tele- 
graph Company resisted the enforcement of this law in the 
United States jDistrict Court in the city of Little Kock, Ark., 
and was defeated at every point, the court upholding the law 
absolutely as written, and so thorough was the construction 
given the statute in this case and so satisfactory the reasoning 
of the court that an appeal was not taken, and today there can 
be no buying and selling of futures in the State of Arkansas, 
and no bucket shops are permitted to carry on their crooked 
transactions. 

Now, Mr. President, the only difference between the Ark- 
ansas statute and the bill under consideration is that, in the 
bill now presented, we prohibit the use of the mails for this 
unlawful purpose. This, of course, can not be done by State 
statute, and 1 appeal to Senators here to help me in the enact- 
ment of this law to suppress this great evil. 

Deahng in futures, either in cotton or grain, is conducted 
through the agency of exchanges, the most notable of which is 
the New York Cotton Exchange, and to this I desire to direct 
your attention especially. The New York Cotton Exchange, 
as is well known to each Senator, is a corporation organized 
under the laws of that State ; it is composed of less than 500 
members, and the number can not be increased beyond that; 
the initiation fee is $10,000, and new members are elected by 
the old; no man can deal directly in cotton futures unless he 
is a member of this exchange. 

It is not contended, Mr. President, that every sale of cotton 
made by the New York Cotton Exchange is a gambling trans- 
action, but I desire to say that during the fight before the 
Legislature of my State, for the passage of the Arkansas 
statute against this evil, I personally cross examined, under 
oath, one of the brightest members of that exchange, and in 
his testimony before the committee having the matter in 
charge, he admitted that 90 per cent of their dealings were 
purely speculative, and that to rob the New York Cotton 
Exchange of its speculative feature would be to destroy the 
business itself. 

This bill is not directed against legitimate transactions, 
where the delivery is made, or can be made, but is only di- 
rected against that character of transactions where no deliv- 
ery is ever contemplated, either by the buyer or the seller, 
and nothing is expected to be done in the way of the comple- 
tion of the contract except to pay the margin or difference 
between the price at which the produce is sold or bought and 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 183 

the price of the market at the time delivery is to be had; in 
other words, to pay the difference in the fluctuations of the 
market, which is purely speculative, and as sworn to by this 
member of the New York Cotton Exchange, 90 per cent of 
their transactions are of this character. As further proof 
upon this point, Mr. President, I submit an extract from a 
report of the Senate committee appointed by this honorable 
body to investigate and report upon this subject, such com- 
mittee being presided over by that able jurist and statesman, 
the late Senator George, of Mississippi. This committee made 
a full examination of the entire option question, took the 
fullest testimony from the ablest representatives of the ex- 
changes, and made a report, Senate Report 986, third session 
of the Fifty-third Congress. Here is what that committee 
had to say as to the option system : 

In the first place, let it be noted that only in and through and under the 
regulations of the two cotton exchanges in New York and New Orleans can 
this business be transacted. The cotton exchange in New York is a corpora- 
tion under the laws of that State. It is composed of less than 500 members, 
and the number can not be increased beyond that. The initiation fee is 
$10,000, and the new members are elected by the old. No man can deal 
directly in futures unless he is a member. 

The corporation has absolute power over the dealings. All disputes or 
controversies are settled by a court established by the corporation itself, 
in what is called "arbitration proceedings." Neither party is allowed to call 
in a Federal or State court. It fixes the grades of all cotton, designates the 
warehouses in which it shall be stored, fixes the fee, and charges for storage, 
weighing, and all other work done in relation to cotton. It fixes the quota- 
tion of prices which are to be published to the world, and these quotations 
are thus fixed under its rules for months for which there are no actual sales. 

It and its members have such wealth that it is claimed, in a published 
letter of one of the principal members, made in response to argument made 
on the floor of this body, that the exchange can absolutely dominate and fix 
prices, as against all others, by flooding the market with offers of an unlim- 
ited supply of futures when at other places prices are, in its opinion, too 
high, and thus break the market; and, on the other hand, when it deems 
prices too low at other places, may immediately buy all that can be offered. 

The New Orleans Cotton Exchange, though located in the largest cotton 
market this side of the Atlantic, is a mere annex to and a subordinate of 
the New York Cotton PJxchange, and so need not be described further than 
by saying if it had the will to do good It has not the power. 

riuch are the agencies and localities of these dealings, and they are the 
sole agencies and places for transacting this business. 

n. 

Its Relation to Cotton. 

Mr. President, I select the one product, cotton, for the pur- 
pose of this argument, notwithstanding the bill here proposed 
forbids future dealing in any product of the soil. I select 
cotton because I hail from the Southland where cotton is king, 
is our staple commodity ; where cotton is our all. God has 



J84 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



blessed the Southland as he has no other portion of this great 
Commonwealth. He has given us in soil and climate a corner 
on the production of this great staple, and it is to prevent the 
gambler from despoiling our agricultural people, not only of 
the South, but of the West as well, that I ask for the passage 
of this bill. If it be insisted that the New York Cotton Ex- 
change is a legitimate business, and that it is not a gambling 
device and should not be disturbed by legislative enactment, I 
have but to call attention to the fact that the average >ield of 
cotton for the past ten years has been about 11,000,000 bales. 
Ah, Mr. President, how many bales of cotton have been soM 
by the thieves and gamblers in this New York Exchange? 
More than ten times the amount annually produced by the 
farmers of the Southland. More than 10 bales for 1. Then I 
ask the Senators upon this floor who would oppose the passage 
of this bill, how can delivery be made? 

Do you not know, as a matter of fact, Mr. President, that 
delivery is never contemplated? Then, if this is true, this 
New York Cotton Exchange is one great big gambling insti- 
tution; and shall it be contended that simply because it is a 
gambling house upon a large scale, controlled by the wealthi- 
est men in the land, that it shall go unwhipped of justice, that 
it shall go unpunished by law, when the small gambler that 
risks but little on the throw of the dice is punished by the 
laws of every State in the Union and would not be counte- 
nanced bv any Spiiator upon this floor? With an average an- 
nual yield of 11.000 000 bales of cotton, this exchange has sold 
more than 100,000.000 bales annually, and T say to you, Mr. 
President, that this 11.000.000 bales actuallv produced, by no 
process of reasoning known to myself, can be rubberized so as 
to cover 100,000.000 bales of fictitious cotton sold by this crowd 
of gamblers; and it is well known to every dealer that a deliv- 
er>^ is a physical impossibility, and no delivery is contemplated 
in the transaction. The whole transaction is a pure gamble, 
a bucket shop transaction of the worst kind, and no exchange 
should be lawfullv empowered to continue this gambling game. 

If we needed further proof that tlie business of the New 
York Cotton Exchange is -purely a garablino: device, we have 
but to examine the case of Irwin against Miller, 110 United 
States, 499-507-50S, Avhere that court of last resort, the Su- 
preme Court of the United States, sanctioned the charge of 
the trial judge to the jury, which was as follows: 

If, however, at the time of entering Into a contract for a sale of personal 
property for future delivery it be contemplated by both parties that at the 
time fixed for delivery the purchaser shall merely receive or pay the differ- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 185 

ence between the contract and the market price, the transaction is a wager, 
and nothing more. It malies no difference that a bet or wager is made to 
assume the form of a contract. Gambling is none the less such because it is 
carried on in the form or guise of legitimate trade. 

The Supreme Court of the United States said : 

We accept this as a correct statement of the law upon that point. 

It is estimated by the press of the country that the average 
daily sale of future cotton by the New York Cotton Exchange 
will equal a million bales per day, or 300,000,000 bales an- 
nually, or more than 30 times the entire actual product of the 
soil. While this estimate of the press may be excessive, yet it 
is in the neighborhood of correct, and shows conclusively that 
no delivery is contemplated by the parties to the transaction, 
but that it is gambling pure and simple. 

If additional proof w^ere necessary, Mr. President, to estab- 
lish the fact that this future dealing in cotton is but a gam- 
bling transaction, I may quote more liberally from the report 
of the Senate committee above referred to. This report is 
based upon the testimony of cotton experts, cotton growers, 
cotton merchants, and men schooled in every phase of cotton 
production in each of the ten States that grow cotton. This 
testimony is full and complete and covers more than 500 pages 
of printed matter in the Senate document to which I have 
referred. In the testimony taken before this committee it is 
contended by the advocates of future gambling that there is 
or can be an actual delivery in each of these future sales. The 
committee, however, say, after a careful analysis of this 
testimony: 

It is shown very conclusively that the actual deliveries, as they are 
claimed to be, are. In fact, fictitious. It is shown that a certain number of 
bales are classed, weighed, and certificated, and deposited in a warehouse. 
Each certificate Is for 100 bales and is a legal tender for delivery under one 
of these contracts. It is negotiable and passes around from hand to hand, 
as other negotiable paper. It is tendered and accepted on an average at 
least 30 times before it rests. In this way it is claimed 3,000 bales are deliv- 
ered to one certificate, yet, in all these various transactions, not a bale of 
cotton is seen or actually passes from one man to another. 

The cotton all the time rests in the warehouse for delivery, it is true, to 
the holder of the certificate, but the holder is a mere gambler in futurs and 
does not want the cotton any more than the purchaser under the futures 
contract wants it. So he does not call for the delivery, but makes it the 
basis of further dealings in futures. He makes other sales, and, in compli- 
ance with these, delivers the same certificate; and it thus goes the active 
round of transfer and the negotiation till it settles another 3,000 bales or 
more, and so continues till the twelve months for which it runs has expired. 
Nor does this necessarily end it. It may be certificated again for another 
twelve months, and so on ad infinitum, or until, having performed its office 
In being the foundation for Innumerable pscudo deliveries, it may be retired 
from active business by a real sale and delivery to the paper manufacturer 
or some other user of Inferior cotton. 

The Ingenuity of these dealers thus, in the settlement as in the making 
of coJitracts, simulates real transactions so well as to give color to their 



186 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



claim that these dealings are not, as they are in law, pure gambling on the 
future price of cotton. In the contracts the stipulation to deliver is mere 
sham, never intended to oe fullilled, compliance being evaded by ring settle- 
ments and by the sham deliveries v<e have described, the certificates alluded 
to being less in real substance tnan the gambler's checks, which, as repre- 
sentatives of money, go through many Iraaslers, according to the varying 
fortunes of the game, but are supposed to be reaeemable in actual money at 
the end of the play. 

I am willing to rest my case, Mr. President, upon this point 
in the controversy, on tlie liudmgs of tlie JSenate committee, 
which, in my judgment, shows conclusively that this buying 
and selhng of cotton futures is gambhug of the worst type. 
Why the worst type f Because it is gambhng not only in the 
products of the soil, but it is gambling in the tlesh, in the 
blood, and in the bones of the women and children of the 
youth, who are forced by the robbery and sjpoilation of these 
gamblers to toil from daylight until dark to produce the sub- 
ject-matter of this gambling transaction. It will be noted, Mr. 
President, that the bill under consideration does not make it 
a crime or attempt to punish these gambhng transactions 
per se, for the reason that it would be dilhcult to locate the 
situs or body of the oll'ense. It is a divided transaction, occur- 
ring partly in New York and partly in the fcJtate where the 
buyer may reside, and it would be diiiicult for the courts of the 
country to determine just where the jurisdiction rests that 
might punish this offense. But, sir, the bill under considera- 
tion seeks to destroy the means of communication between 
the gambler and his patron, to inilict such penalties for the 
use of the mail, the telegraph and telephone systems for this 
unlawful gambling transaction as that it may leave the gam- 
bler, the stockjobber, the perpetrator of this gambling device 
without a means of reaching his customer for the purpose of 
plying his wicked vocation. If this bill shall become a law, it 
will be easy to locate the jurisdiction that shall have power to 
punish the olfenses, and I apprehend that but few that now 
fritter away their substance chasing this will-o '-the-wisp, cot- 
ton future gambling, will dare take a chance to run amuck the 
penalties of the law, as provided in this bill. 

The best method, Mr. President, to break up a gambling 
house is not to fine the proprietor at stated intervals for the 
privilege of running the game, but arrest and punish the fre- 
quenters of the gambling resort ; and when this is known and 
understood there will be but few players. That is the object 
and purpose of my bill, to make it burdensome to the player as 
well as to the proprietor, and burdensome to the corpora- 
tions — the great telegraph and telephone systems — who per- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 187 

mit their wires to be used for the purpose of notifying players 
and victims of this great gambling house to be sacrificed and 
slaughtered by tliese gambling kings. It may be insisted, Mr. 
President, that this character of legislation does not fall 
within the power of Congress to enact. Ah, sir, the Constitu- 
tion of the United States provides that Congress shall have 
the power to regulate commerce between the States and be- 
tween this Government and foreign countries. Cotton is 
essentially an article of commerce. The committee to whose 
report I have referred finds conclusively that this gambling 
in cotton futures is injurious to the commerce of the country, 
and that Congress has the T)ower, and should exercise it, to 
stop this character of gambling. Then, sir, I contend that if 
Congress has the power to punish the thing itself — that is, the 
gambling in cotton futures — it also has the power to prevent 
the use of the mails and the telegraph and telephone systems 
to carry intelliirence and advice and invitations from the buyer 
to the seller in these gambling transactions that might be abso- 
lutely prohibited by law. 

Let us consider, in the second place, the evil consequences 
of this character of gambling. I understand, Mr. President, 
that bv it these gamblers fix the price of the products of the 
soil. They fix the price absolutely and unalterably of every 
bale of cotton, of every bushel of wheat, of every bushel of 
corn that is produced in this country. Again referring to 
the report of the Senate committee for proof of this propo- 
sition : 

The corporation (mep-x^mg the New York Cotton Exchange) has abso- 
lute power over the dealinfrs. All disputes and controversies are settled by a 
court estahlished by the corporation Itself, in what is called "arbitration 
procecdine-s." Neither party is allowed to call in a Federal or State court. 
It fixes the grades of all cotton, designates the warehouses in which it shall 
be stored, fixes the fees and chare;es for storage, weighing:, and all other 
work done in relation to cotton. It fixes the quotations of prices which are 
to be published to th*? world, and these quotations are thus fixed under its 
rules for months for which there were no actual sales. 

It and its members have such wealth that it is claimed, in a published 
letter of one of the principal members, made in response to arguments made 
on the fioor of this bodv, thot the errhanae can ndsolutely dominate avd fix 
prices, as artainsf all others, by fiooding the market with offers of an unlim- 
ited supply of futures when nt other places prices are. in its opinion, too 
high, and thus break the market: and on the other hand, when it deems 
prices too low at other places, may immediately buy all that can be offered. 

They are. in fact, an nlirrarchy of vealth. self-created and self-pernetuafed, 
which hold in sutiection to their will the interests of the people of at least 
ten States in the Union. 

In all these they asstime and exercise a power of repulatinfj interstate 
and foreirjn commerce in cotton which is vested by the Constitution in Con- 
gress alone. 



188 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



This is strong language, Mr. President, deliberately ex- 
pressed after months of careful study and investigation, based 
upon the testimony that these gamblers form an oligarchy of 
wealth self-created and self -perpetuated, which hold in sub- 
jection to their will the interests of the people of at least ten 
States of this Union. I say to you, sir, a fact which is well 
known in every cotton State in this Union, in every village, in 
every hamlet, in every town, that cotton, this great staple, this 
great commodity, can not be moved, can not be sold except at 
the will and bidding of this oligarchy of wealth built ap by 
these gamblers — wealth wrung from the very heart's blood 
of the people of the South. The smallest farmer when he 
carries his cotton to town, three or four bales, perhaps, the 
fruits of the toil of himself and his wife and babies, is met by 
the cotton buyer, who says to him : 

I can not make you a price upon this, the product of your labor upon this 
great commodity which you are producing, until I consult the exchange; 
until I receive a wire telling me the price fixed upon your cotton. 

By this great oligarchy of wealth, by this great gambling 
institution which is fast sapping the lifeblood of our people. 

Sir, the great law of supply and demand that should regu- 
late the price of all commodities has been wiped out, has been 
destroyed by this great combination of gamblers, this oli- 
garchy of wealth that holds in subjection to their will the 
people of ten sovereign States of this Republic. Now, Mr. 
President and Senators, if these future dealings are gambling, 
and if they fix the price of the commodity, not by any law of 
supply and demand, but by the law of the manipulator, shall 
it be contended by any Senator upon this floor that this sys- 
tem shall longer continue? If we can not reach it by a direct 
law making it a crime to sell cotton futures, then, I pray you, 
sirs, let us reach it by this indirect method, by cutting off 
communication between the buyer and seller, by rendering 
the rambler helpless and impotent, bv allowinsr his wickeA 
and hellish business to die of its own filth and of its own pu- 
trid corruption. 

Mr. President, it is no fulsome flattery for me to say that 
the aarriculturist, that the farmer, is the most important factor 
in this great (xovernment of ours; that he is the great basic 
rock upon which this great superstructure rests; that upon 
his shoulders rest the burdens of the Government. Ah, Mr. 
President, we can do without the merchant, we can live with- 
out the doctor, we can live without the banker, we can live 
%vithout the railroad magnate, we can live without the bond- 
holder who clips at stated periods his coupons, we can get 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 189 

along without the Senate of the United States, or the Presi- 
dent of the Unites States; but, sir, this Government can not 
last for the twinkling of an eye without the man who toils, 
who labors, and who sweats. This Government can not exist 
for one minute without the man who feeds and clothes the 
toiling millions of the earth; it can not exist, Mr. President, 
without the farmer. Upon his efforts, upon his exertions, 
upon his daily toil we all depend, not only for the sustenance 
of life, for the very clothes we wear, for the food we eat, but 
the luxuries that surround us today, because from his labors 
and from his alone spring all the blessings of life. Then 
shall it be said, sir, that the Congress of the United States, the 
servants of the people, shall sit here in stolid silence and close 
their eyes to this great evil, refusing to enact a law that will 
give to this great wealth-producing class their just rights 
under this Government, that vn\\ tear down this oli^'archy of 
wealth built up by these gamblers, and restore to the people 
the great law of supply and demand to regulate the sale of 
their products. 

Mr. President, I plead with this Congress today to enact a 
law that Avill take the white women and white children of the 
South out of the cotton fields, that will give to the producers 
of this great commoditv a fair return for their husbandry and 
their toil, that will build up schoolhouses and churches in the 
waste Tilaces of our land, that will make better citizenship, 
that will give better oT)r)ortunities for education and develoT3- 
ment, that will make the Southland, the fairest spot on God's 
green footstool, bloom and blossom like the roses, and will 
return to honest husbandmen a fair compensation for their 
industry and their labor. 

Mr. President, there is another great agency for evil so 
closely connected, so closely allied with gambling in futures 
that one can not be discussed inder>endently of the other, and 
while the bill under consideration is not directly leveled at the 
New York Stock Exchange, yet, sir, to properly understand 
the one. a consideration of the other becomes necessary. The 
New York Stock Exchancre is a voluntary association of per- 
sons and is not incorporated, with a membership limited to 
1,100. These memberships are known as "seats," and are 
sold at varying prices — in 1900 as low as $14,000 a seat, and 
prior to that time as high as $95,000 a seat. The membership 
of these two exchanges is almost identical, one, of course, not 
having as many members as the other, but they together em- 
brace the richest, the most influential, the most powerful 



190 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

moneyed men of the country. The dealings of each and both 
ramify every avenue of business and trade, are seen and felt 
in every feature of our commercial life, and control either di- 
rectly or indirectly every business transaction of our country 
which shapes and determines its destiny. The combined 
wealth of the members of these two great exchanges whose 
interests interlock and entwine is fabulous, indeed, and stag- 
gers the mind of ordinary men to comprehend it. 

HI. 

The Wealth and Influence of These Men. 

Mr. President, of the original 24 founders, no one of them 
was a millionaire, and their combined wealth was less than 
one-fourth of what it now costs for a hundred seats. The 
eleven hundred members of the New York Stock Exchange 
comprise among its numbers the richest men of the world, but 
it has been said by several writers that many of them are 
very poor. It takes $20,000, however, to join, and at this rate 
per member, the New York Stock Exchange denotes an invest- 
ment of fl?22,000,000. Thirteen of its members, beginning with 
John D. Rockefeller, are credited with the fabulous wealth of 
$1,355,000,000, as estimated in the table of the 51 plutocrats 
heretofore enumerated by me. The New York Stock Ex- 
change, then, through 13 of its members, represents a wealth 
of more than $1,000,000,000, and the other 1,087 members may 
be safely credited with ten times this amount, or $13,550,000.- 
000, in all about $15,000,000,000, or about one-seventh of all 
the wealth owned by the 90,000,000 people that constitute the 
United States. This is their estimated actual wealth. The 
ramifications of the membership of the Stock Exchange with 
other business enterprises make the influence of the exchange 
enormously greater. In the first place nearly every one of the 
members of the exchange is put down as a member of a firm 
or corporation, so that he represents, not only his own, but 
the aggregate wealth and interest of the firm or corporation 
of which he is a part. In addition to this, several hundred 
of these members are either directors or officers of other 
corporations or trusts, a fact which seems to give them the 
controlling influence in financial matters in the United States, 
an influence eagerly desired by the exchange and an influence 
which history proclaims has been exercised with very great 
frequency in the manipulation of prices, the cornering of 
stocks, the organization and management of panics, and, in 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 191 

fact, the exploitation oi' every species of stock gambling and 
stock jobbing known to man. The linancial history of the 
country teems with accounts, not only of the individual wrecks 
caused by the JSJew \ork btock Jlixchange, but also of the cy- 
clonic panics which have endangered the poJitical and indus- 
trial fabric of our country, it is useless to enumerate these, 
as they are the common knowledge of all intelhgent men. yuch 
an influence can only be originated in a body whose wealth 
and inhuence is so great as to insure the success of its plans, 
whether right or wrong. 

For instance, Wilham liockefeller is credited with an indi- 
vidual wealth of $100,UUU,UU0 ; he is also a member of the most 
gigantic corporation m the world — the Standard Oil trust ; he 
is a director of the Lake iShore and Michigan {Southern fiail- 
road, whose capital stock is $50,000,000, and which owns $92,- 
000,000 of stocks and bonds in 45 subsidiary companies of the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern ; he is also a director of the 
Miciiigan Central, the ^e\v York, Chicago and St. Louis Rail- 
road, and the Pittsburg and Lake Erie Kailroad, whose aggre- 
gate capital is about $o3,000,000 and whose aggregate mileage 
is about 2,500 miles; he is also a director of the New York, 
New Haven and Hartford ftailroad, with a capital of $100,- 
000,000 and mileage of 3,500 miles, controlling 34 constituent 
companies; he is also a director of the Delaware and Lacka- 
wanna Railroad, with a capital of $26,000,000 ; also a director 
of the New York Central Railroad, with a capital of $180,000,- 
000, and operating 12,000 miles of road. This road owned 
stocks or bonds on December 31, 1906, amounting to $147,000,- 
000 in 75 constituent lines. The influence of this man alone, 
when interested in the manipulation of the prices of transpor- 
tation in the United States, is enormous, and becomes simply 
fabulous when united with the interests of other corporation 
magnates and trust sharks who desire to rob the public by 
bankrupting smaller and competing roads. 

J. Pierpont Morgan is not a member of the Stock Exchange, 
but his son, J. Pierpont Morgan, Jr., of the firm J. P. Morgan 
& Co., represents the firm in the Stock Exchange. J. P. Mor- 
gan is a director in all the roads of which AVilliam Rockefeller 
is a director, with the exception of the Delaware and Lacka- 
wanna. To make up for this, he is a director of the Northern 
Pacific Railroad, with its 6,000 miles of road and $155,000,000 
of capital. 

H. H. Rogers is not a member of the Stock Exchange, but 
is a member of the ConsoHdated Stock and Petroleum Ex- 



J92 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

change. He is a director, also, of the Atchison, Topeka and 
Santa Fe Railroad, with a capital of $382,000,000 ; also a direc- 
tor of the Chicago, Milwaukee and !St. Paul Kailroad, of 10,000 
miles and a capital of $50,000,000; and he is also a director 
of the United States Steel Corporation and many other cor- 
porations and trusts. 

August Belmont is a member of the exchange, representing 
himself and the combined Belmont interests. He is a director 
of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, with its $60,000,000 
capiiai and controlling about 7,000 miles of road, besides rep- 
resenting scores of other corporations and trusts in the same 
capacity. 

E. H. Harriman is a member of the exchange ; a director of 
the Baltimore and Ohio, with its capital of $212,750,000 and 
operating 4,500 miles of road ; also a director of the Chicago 
and Alton Railroad, with its $40,000,000 capital; also of the 
Erie Railroad Company, with its $217,000,000 capital; also of 
the lUinois Central, with $105,000,000 capital, and at the same 
time of the Union Pacific, made up of the Union Pacific, the 
Southern Pacific, and the Leavenworth, Kansas and Western 
railroads, operating 15,000 miles of road, with a combined 
capital of $396,000,000. 

George J. Gould is a member of the exchange and a director 
of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, with a capital of 
$88,000,000; also a director of the International and Great 
Northern Railroad, with a capital of $25,000,000; also of the 
Missouri Pacific Railroad, with a capital of $150,000,000, in- 
cluding St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern; also of the 
Texas & Pacific Railroad, with a capital of $50,000,000. 

Others of the stock exchange membership are either officers 
or directors of other railroads throughout tlie country, and 
their combined influence in the exchange makes it possible to 
murder or maim any small railroad in the country at pleasure, 
as the various demands of stock gambling in the exchange may 
require. In this way not only the stocks and bonds of the 
smaller railroads of the country are placed at the mercy of 
the stock gamblers and robbers of the exchange, but the trans- 
portation of the whole country injuriously affected. 

Not only does this membership of the exchange manipulate 
the question of transportation and transportation charges in 
its own interests and against the interests of the people, but 
it also exercises a tremendous influence on the telegraphic and 
telephonic connection of the country. On the directorate of 
the Western Union Telegraph Company, in bold relief, you 




BEN L. GRIFFIN. 

Former State Secretary of the Farmers' TTnion Who Senator Davis Styled 
as a "Red-Headed, Sly Old Fox." 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 193 

will find the names of George J. Gould, J. P. Morgan, and E. 
H. Harriman. On the directorate of the United States Steel 
Corporation you will find the names of J. P. Morgan, John D. 
Rockefeller, Jr., and H. PI. Rogers. The names of these eleven 
hundred men, or at least the names of those representing its 
greatest wealth, may be found as officers and directors of iron 
trusts, steel trusts, lumber trusts, paper trusts, leather trusts, 
and all and every species of trusts known to mankind, besides 
being intimately connected with corporations allied to trusts 
and to corporations not so allied. They are officers and direc- 
tors of the great national banks of their country and can 
manipulate a money panic whenever their greed demands. 
The Stock Exchange has its legitimate function, but stock job- 
bing and sto'ck gambling form no part of tliis function. 

There are economical writers who so far prostitute their 
talents under the seductive influence of corporation gold as to 
claim that there is no stock gambling and no stock jobbing in 
the New York Stock Exchange or the various other exchanges 
of the country. There are other economic writers who, under 
the same pay, admit what can not be denied, that a very large 
portion, in fact the greatest part, of the business of all of the 
exchanges is gambling pure and simple, but justify it on the 
ground of its necessity. Almost every great newspaper of the 
country keeps an eaitor, reporter, or correspondent at head- 
quarters in Wall Street ostensibly to keep the people informed 
as to the news, but really, under the pay of corporations, to 
gloss over the knavery of exchange transactions and to write 
stilted reviews of exchange dishonesty and fraud. 

In the Washington Post of December 29, 1908, one of these 
' ' financial owls ' ' had the following to say : 

Ten points down and 10 points up — that is the record of Union Pacific 
pertormance in the last two weeks. On Monday, December 14, the stock sold 
at 184V4, practically the highest of the year. A week later, on Monday, De- 
cember 21, it fell to 1741-4. Today it got up again to the starting point and 
a fraction beyond. Naturally many persons are asking who engineered the 
shake out. Even the most experienced operator is forced to admit it was 
clever, and if, following that, he said things that were not complimentary, 
it was because he had been bumped. 

There is not a word in the article concerning the morality 
or legality of the transaction; on the contrary, the whole 
article is a silent tribute to the masterly rascality of the mem- 
bers of the close corporation, the New York Stock Exchange. 
I would like to ask any person who believes that there is no 
gambling in the exchanges of the country a simple question. 
By what right, moral or legal, does any man sell the stocks 
or bonds of a corporation in which he owns no share of stock, 



194 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

nor in the sale of which does he propose to buy in order to 
comply with the terms of sale? By what authority does any 
man sell stocks or bonds in a corporation which he does not 
own and which he does not propose to buy in order to make a 
delivery? I know that the rules of the New York Stock Ex- 
change require a dehvery in order to make the transaction 
show some shade of honesty. I also know that the very larg- 
est proportion of these transactions carry no real delivery — 
stocks are borrowed to meet the demands of the exchange rule, 
prohts pocketed, and the stocks returned without a semblance 
of ownership in them, save that which is necessary to cover a 
gambhng deal. 

bo notorious was this gambhng device, ' ' borrowing to per- 
fect a gambhng deal," that the Legislature of New York was 
asked to make an investigation. This virtuous body, consort- 
ing with race-track gamblers of that State, refused to make 
the investigation. The (iovernor of that commonwealth, how- 
ever, smarting under the charges made against the New York 
Stock Exchange with reference to the panic of 1907, and to 
keep a consistent record with himself as to all forms of gam- 
bhng. Wail Street, as well as race tracks, felt it incumbent 
upon him to make an investigation notwithstanding the failure 
of the Legislature to authorize it. To his credit be it said 
that he has found competent men who are wilhng to serve 
without pay to act as a committee of investigation, and despite 
the handicap of such an investigation, it is to be hoped that 
this committee will ascertain who engineered the shakedown 
in the case of the Union Pacihc of December, 1908, the greater 
shakedown of March, 1907, and the thousands of other shake- 
downs that go on day by day under the sanctity of the New 
York Stock Exchange. 

In 1707, more than two hundred years ago, a great writer in 
London, in a remarkable pamphlet, attacked the London Stock 
Exchange as a band of thieves and robbers, and held that it 
was high treason against the l^ngdom of England to be a 
member of that body, lie argued and proved that every panic 
know^n to Eughsh history owed its origin to the thieves and 
robbers who made up the London Stock Exchange. 

In 1871, J. F. Richmond, for years city missionary of the 
cit}^ of New York, and who has written a splendid little book 
on early life in New York City, has this to say of the New 
York Stock Exchange : 

The board of brokers claim to be composed of honest and honorable men 
only. Besides this board there are various other specific boards of all kinds 
of ■peculator* — stock brokers, gold brokers, oil brokers, and cliquee — uniting 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 195 

and resolving as occasion may offer opportunities of gain to ambitious and 
unscrupulous men. Among tliese originate the gold scrambles, the railroad 
wars, the raids on the banks, and other panics which crowd the streets with 
well-dressed but frenzied men, some flushed and violent, some pale and 
staggering, turning prematurely gray over the wreck of their earthly hopei. 

I might multiply these quotations indefinitely, but this on« 
covers the whole case. The laws of all States are severe in 
penalty as to pure gambling, which has led a noted writer, in 
a book quoted by Charles A. Conant, to use the following 
language : 

If, instead of betting on something so small as falling dice, one bets on 
the rise and fall of stocks or on the price which wheat will reach some 
months hence, and if by such betting one corners the community in an article 
essential to its welfare, throwing a continent into confusion, the law will not 
pay the slightest attention. A gambling house for these larger purposes 
may be built conspicuously in any city, the sign "Stock ETxchange" be set 
over its door, influential men appointed its officers, and the law will protect 
them as it does the churches. How Infamous to forbid gambling on a small 
scale and almost encourage it on a large. 

Charles A. Conant answered, or attempted to answer, it in 
the Atlantic Monthly for April, 1903. He admitted, frankly 
and purposely, that betting on the rise and fall of stocks as 
carried on in the New York Stock Exchange was gambling, 
but that it was nevertheless true that betting on the fall of a 
dice was wrong, while betting on the fall of a stock was right. 
This shrewd economist justified the righteousness of stock 
gambling on the basis of its necessity. That such gambling 
entered into the business relations of the entire country and 
could not be disassociated therefrom without a revolution, 
which would bring universal disaster. He argued further that 
there was no pure betting in the New York Stock Exchange, 
while admitting that a large part of the transactions partook 
of the nature of gambling. In other Yords, he differentiated 
gambling into two forms, pure and mixed. Pure betting, he 
said, was done in bucket shops, admitted that it was of no use 
to the community, and charged that it was destructive to the 
morals and pockets of young men, and argued that it could not 
be too highly censured. 

Right here Charles A. Conant aligns himself with me, our 
difference being that what he calls the mixed gambling of the 
exchanges is nothing but bucket shop gambling, and my bill 
seeks to drive out this form of unrighteous speculation from 
the exchanges of the country dealing in the products of the 
soil. We are all opposed to an open bucket shop, and we 
should be opposed to the same bucket shop disaruised as an 
influential stock exchange. For I hold, and I think it can not 
be successfully denied, that every bet on the rise or fall of 
stock where no delivery is made or intended to be made or 



196 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

even thought of, except as borrowing enables the gambler to 
semble righteousness, is nothing but a pure bet, nothing but 
a bucket shop transaction. 

In all speculation there is, first, the actual investor ; he buys 
for two purposes, the interest and the probable rise, and 
exacts a delivery of the stock. This is not gambling, and my 
bill does not propose to interfere with it. This is honest busi- 
ness, honestly conducted, and deserves no reprimand at my 
hands. There is, second, the semi-investor, who buys on a 
wide percentage of margin, but keeps an eye to the interest 
and exacts an actual delivery. This man is something of a 
shark, but I can not say that my bill seeks to limit his sphere 
of operation. Then there is the margin investor, who pays 
no regard to the interest of the stock, does not intend to exact 
a delivery, except so far as the rules demand a delivery, and 
which will be met by borrowing — one who buys and sells 
purely upon the possible rising and falling of the stock, look- 
ing to this rise or fall for his profit. This is pure betting, pure 
bucket shop dealing, and the New York Stock Exchange and 
other exchanges show a far greater number of deals of this 
kind than of the two others combined. It is this phase of 
exchange operations that has induced so many plutocrats to 
join the New York Stock Exchange. 

McConihe & Co., of New York, in their little book issued in 
1906, used these words: 

Of recent years, however, and since the coimtrv at larsre has errown enor- 
mously rich, there has arisen a set of what mieht be called "millionaire 
speculators." They have more surplus monev than they need to live upon 
and are men of hie: ideas. They liVe qulrlt results on their transactions, and 
in no other form can thev obtain them so readily as throueh the purchase 
and sale of stock. These men will buy or sell thousands of shares at a time 
and have recently become one of the biggest factors in the market. 

These are the millionaire gamblers, the colossal bucket shop 
bettors of the exchanges, who are lauded to the skies by subsi- 
dized literary men, while the little nigger shooting craps is 
picked up and sent to jail. 

I know that it is difficult to draw with exactness the line 
between bona fide business and business gambling, but at the 
same time it is not difficult to define the thousands of gambling 
devices that go unchecked under the cover of the sanctity of 
the New York Stock Exchange. Arthur Crump, in his ''The- 
ory of Stock Exchange Speculation," says: 

Because it is difficult for governments to define in stock exchange gambling 
where bona fide business ends and the gambling begins, the most injurious 
of all the games of chance is played year after year upon an increasing 8cal«. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 197 

Because of the difficulty we, as legislators, are not to be ex- 
cused if we permit these most injurious games of chance to 
be played year after year, and I think that a careful study of 
my bill will disclose a remedy for the wrong; and I believe 
that if it shall be enacted it will at once put a curb to the dis- 
graceful and disastrous gambling features of the New York 
Cotton Exchange and the other exchanges of the country. It 
is almost universally admitted that gambling of the worst kind 
goes on under cover of these exchanges, and it is our duty, as 
I see it, so far as we have the power, to minimize its ferocity, 
even though we may not be able to entirely destroy its frenzy. 

A careful analysis of this abstract, Mr. President, will show 
that 13 members of the New York Stock Exchange are ac- 
credited vjith a wealth of more than $1,300,000,000, and the 
other 1,087 members may be safely estimated at ten times this 
amount, or $13,550,000,000; in all, about $15,000,000,000, or 7 
per cent of the entire wealth of the 90,000,000 people that 
constitute this United States. Add to that, sir, the wealth of 
the membership of the New York Cotton Exchange and you 
have a sum that equals at least 15 per cent of the entire wealth 
of this Nation ; add to this the wealth of the men directly and 
indirectly associated and affiliated in business relations with 
these two great exchanges and you have 51 men whose wealth 
equals 35 per cent of the entire wealth of the United States, 
and 4,051 men whose wealth equals Siy^ per cent of the entire 
wealth of the Government, a list of which was given by me in 
a speech delivered on December 11, 1907. Seeing, Mr. Presi- 
dent, this great combination of wealth of these two great gam- 
bling institutions and their allied forces, that control 87i/o 
per cent of the wealth of this entire Nation, is it a w^onder that 
the committee of this Senate, headed by Senator George, 
found that the New York Cotton Exchange, one of the ten- 
tacles of this great octopus, had built up an oligarchy of 
wealth that held subject to its will the chief product of 10 of 
the sovereign States of this Republic. Not only so, Mr. Presi- 
dent, but this combined force of gamblers can murder and 
stifle competition, can bring about a panic at will in the money 
markets of the country, can cause stagnation in business at 
will, and thus reap golden harvests by means of their illegal 
transactions. 

The bill which I here present, and for which I bespeak the 
careful consideration of the Senate, is directed at the lesser 
of these two great evils and is intended to so cripple it and so 
destroy its power of communication with its patrons that its 



198 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

evil effect may be destroyed. Gentlemen of the Senate, can 
there be any wrong in this bill! In your own hearts and con- 
sciences answer me the question, Ought not this great gam- 
bling institution to be destroyed? It may be said that the 
penalties of this act are too severe. I think not, Mr. Presi- 
dent. If a postal official, knowing the illegal character of a 
letter that is being transmitted through the mails, fails to 
arrest it and place it in the hands of the proper official, he 
shall be fined not less than $100 nor more than $5,000 ; shall 
be removed from office and not allowed to again hold an office 
of profit or trust under the Government. If the ordinary indi- 
vidual shall violate the provisions of this act by sending a 
letter or by using the telegraph or the telephone for the pur- 
pose of engaging in this illegal transaction, he shall be ad- 
judged guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, sentenced to 
imprisonment in the penitentiary for not less than five nor 
more than fifteen years. If a corporation running one of these 
gambling institutions or owning a telegraph or telephone sys- 
tem shall be guilty of violating any of the provisions of this 
act, they shall be fined in any sum not less than $10,000 nor 
more than $100,000, one-half of which shall be paid to the 
informant. 

IV. 

Division of the Nation's Wealth. 

Ah, Mr. President, if we would destroy this evil we must lay 
the ax at its very root; we must, by penalties sufficiently se- 
vere, dig it up root and branch and make a participation in 
this gambling transaction so hazardous, indeed, that none mil 
dare to risk the penalties of this statute. Mr. President, the 
suppression of this great evil and the consequent crippling of 
the New York Stock Exchange means not only a relief for the 
Southland, but for the great West as well. Ah, it means more 
than this, Mr. President ; it means a brighter day for this Re- 
public, and renewed hopes for our toiling people. Let us for 
a moment consider the condition of our Government today. It 
may be repetition, Mr. President, but I say it without fear of 
successful contradiction, that the money power of the country 
has so tightened its grasp upon the arteries of trade and com- 
merce, has so stifled competition that the Government itself 
is upon its knees today begging quarter at their hands. What 
is the wealth of this Government, Mr. President, and of what 
is it composed? I submit, sir, a table taken from Government 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 199 

statistics showing the wealth of this Government, which I ask 
to have printed in my remarks without reading. 

The Vice President: If there be no objection, permission 
is granted. 

The matter referred to is as follows : 

Forms of Wealth. 

1904. 

Real property and improvements, taxed $ 55,510,247,564 

Real property and improvements, exempt 6,831,244,570 

Railroads and their equipment 11,244,752,000 

Street railways 2,219,966,000 

Telegraph systems 227,400,000 

Telephone systems 585,840,000 

Pullman and private cars 123,000,000 

Shipping and canals 846,489,804 

Privately owned waterworks 275,000,000 

Privately owned central electric light and power stations.... 562,851,105 

Live stock 4,073,791,736 

Farm implements and machinery 844,989,863 

Manufacturing machinery, tools, and implements 3,297,754,180 

Agricultural products 1,899,379,652 

Manufactured products 7,409,291,668 

Imported merchandise 495,543,685 

Mining products 408,066,787 

uold and silver coin and bullion 1,998,603,303 

Clothing and personal adornment 2,500,000,000 

Furniture, carriages, and kindred property 5,750,000,000 

Total $107,104,211,917 

Mr. Davis: This table, sir, shows in round numbers that 
the wealth of this Government is $107,000,000,000. How is 
this wealth divided ? How is it distributed among the 90,000,- 
000 people of this Republic? As has been shown by me upon 
a former occasion, 51 men, all of whom are directly or indi- 
rectly connected with these two great gambling institutions, 
own 35 per cent of this w^ealth, and 4,000 other men, who own 
not as much as twenty millions in wealth, but more than one 
million, added to the 51 men and their holdings, makes the 
alarming showing that 4,051 men own 87 1/^ per cent of the 
entire wealth of this Government. How did this condition oc- 
cur, Mr. President? How was it brought about? There is a 
reason for it. Nothing ever happened in this world but that 
behind it is a prompting and promoting cause, and as I see it 
today the cause of this great concentration of wealth lies 
chiefly along these lines. Our people, sir, as a whole — North, 
South, East and West — w^ere more prosperous and happy just 
subsequent to the great Civil war than now. It is true that the 
Southland, from which I hail, in this great conflict had been 
laid waste and made barren ; our homes had been destroyed, 
our fortunes had been dissipated ; but the Confederate soldier, 



200 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

as brave and as true and as gentle as ever lived upon God's 
green footstool, returned to his desolated home, and with a 
bravery and chivalry unequaled in modern liistory, that chal- 
lenged at once the wonder and admiration of the world, set 
about to restore his fallen fortune, and how well he has suc- 
ceeded history itself may repeat. 

But the people of this entire Government, I contend, were 
more prosperous, taken as a whole, just subsequent to the Civil 
war than they are today. We had few tramps then. The mil- 
lionaires of this Government, Mr. President, at that time 
might be numbered upon my one hand. The people, as a rule, 
were prosperous, contented, and happy. They naturally were 
divided into two great classes, working in two dili'erent fields 
of industry. The one class, upon my right, the larger class 
numerically, set about to work in the fields of human en- 
deavor, the fields of human enterprise. Every implement of 
human industry that could be contrived was brought into play 
whereby this great army of industrial workers might earn 
bread, as God commanded, in the sweat of their faces. They 
worked in the fields, they worked in the shops, they worked in 
the mines, they worked behind the counters, they did every- 
thing whereby an honest penny might be turned for the sup- 
port of themselves and those dependent upon them. The 
other crowd, upon my left, smaller in number, viewing the 
situation from a human standpoint of selfishness, from a 
standpoint of greed and avarice, chose to work in other fields, 
the field of legislation. They sought, Mr. President, to gain 
public favor, to secure blessings and benefit through the legis- 
lative branch of this Government not enjoyed by the toilers 
in the fields of human endeavor. What has been the result? 
In your mind view the two crowds today. See the workers in 
the fields of human industry; see how their back are bended 
beneath the burdens of Government; see how their breasts 
and arms are bared to the heat and burden of the day; see 
how they toil and sweat. On the other hand, view the crowd 
that has chosen to work the fields of legislation. They toiled 
not, neither did they spin, yet Solomon in all his glory was 
not arrayed like one of these. 

This crowd working in the field of legislation first came to 
the Government, I shall not say directly or by improper in- 
fluences, and they asked of the Government a great benefit, a 
great blessing, that was not enjoyed by the other crowd work- 
ing the fields of human endeavor. They asked, Mr. President, 
to be permitted to issue the money of the country. In my 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 201 

imagination I can hear the servants of the people, the Con- 
gress of the United States, denying- this request. I can hear 
the reply that this is in direct violation of the Constitution of 
the United States, which provides that Congress alone shall 
have power to coin money and regulate the value thereof, but 
by importunities, sir, by continued asking, the Government 
finally yielded, and in June, 1864, the Government of the 
United States turned over to this crowd, working the fields of 
legislation, the most important function of the Government — 
that is, the power to issue the money of the country. To the 
national banks was surrendered this important function, and 
from time to time they have issued sums varying in amount, 
but there is outstanding today money issued contrary to the 
Constitution, an amount equal to $700,000,000. Mr. President, 
w^hy was the blessing asked by the crowd working the fields of 
legislation? Because they knew the power of money; they 
knew its controlling influences ; they knew that if they could 
get a corner on this important function of the Government 
they themselves could control the Government. Well did they 
know that money is the blood of commerce; that this blood 
must circulate freely from the center to the extremities and 
back again in a free and healthy circulation, if a healthy body 
politic should obtain. Looking far into the future, knowing 
the power that money would give to them, and a still greater 
power by controlling the circulating medium of the country, 
they asked and obtained this great benefit from the Govern- 
ment of the United States. 

Ah, Mr. President, it would seem that this blessing, that 
this benefit thus acnuired by them, as against their brethren 
that worked the fields of human industry, ous'ht to have satis- 
fied this crowd that worked the fields of legislation; but, sir, 
human experience has taught, the historv of all remiblics that 
have gone the ways of the world, have fully demonstrated that 
it is difficult to satisfv the maw of arreed and avarice: so this 
crowd, working the fields of legislation, desired a still further 
and a closer corner upon the blood of commerce and the money 
of the land ; they turned again to the Government and said : 
"Mr. Government, give us yet another blessing, give us yet 
another favor, not enjoyed by the toilers of the earth. Place 
a tax on all State banks that are empowered to issue money; 
place a tax of 10 per cent thereon. This mil drive these little 
banks out of the money-issuing business and will give us yet 
a tighter grasp on the control of the money of this Govern- 
ment." Ah, Mr. President, in February, 1875, Congress 



202 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

acceded to their wish; taxed out of existence the little State 
banks that were in competition with this crowd that worked 
the fields of legislation. This, it seems, sir, should have satis- 
fied this crowd, but it did not do so. They again returned to 
the Government and they said: ''Mr. Government, we want 
yet a closer corner on money; we want yet a closer comer 
upon the wealth of this land. We ask that you retire the 
greenbacks of the country, that they may no longer be a cir- 
culating medium among this crowd that works the fields of 
human endeavor. ' ' In my imagination I can hear the voice of 
Congress when it said: ''No; this shall not be done. Green- 
backs — it is the money of the plain common people of the land ; 
it is the money of the laborer and wage-earner; it is the money 
of this crowd that work the fields of human endeavor; it shall 
not be retired; it shall be left to them as their money." But 
the crowd working the field of legislation, still persistent, pro- 
cured an act passed by Congress in January, 1875, withdraw- 
ing the money of the people from circulation. While it is in- 
sisted that three hundred millions of this money is in circula- 
tion today, yet, sir, I appeal to the American people, I appeal 
to the workmen in the fields of human endeavor, to say to me 
whether or not this is true. 

Ah, Mr. President, it would seem that this crowd, working 
the field of legislation, having acquired so many benefits, so 
many advantages, might at this point stay their hand and the 
further withering, blighting influence of their ill-gotten gains, 
but not so. I shall not, Mr. President, attempt from memory 
to give these events in chronological order, but they again re- 
turn to the Government and say : ' ' Mr. Government, give us 
another benefit, give us another blessing, give us another ad- 
vantage not enjoyed by the crowd working the fields of human 
endeavor. We ask that silver be struck down; we ask that 
silver be demonetized ; we ask that gold be made the money of 
final redemption, and that silver be made redeemable in gold." 
No one was found bold enough, Mr. President, to attempt this 
great atrocity; no one was found bold enough to place upon 
record a measure that would bring about this diabolical and 
dastardly crime, bearing his name, or assume its authorship; 
but, like a thief in the night, with cat-like tread, the measure 
was slipped through the Congress of the United States under 
a false pretext, under a false guise, striking down the money 
of the laborer, striking down the money of the wage-earner, 
striking down the money of the crowd that works the field of 
human endeavor, striking down the money of the Constitu- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 203 



tion, giving to the crowd that work the field of legislation yet 
a closer grasp, yet a tighter corner on the great volume of 
the money of the land, a closer corner on the blood of com- 
merce. Ah, Mr. President, with these advantages, with these 
benehts not enjoyed by their brethren in the held of human 
endeavor, is it a matter of astonishment, is it a matter of 
wonder that today 51 men own 35 per cent of the entire wealth 
of this Nation, and 4,051 men own 871/2 per cent, and the aver- 
age American citizen, the average man among the remaining 
89,000,000 people, owns less than $500 in property valuation 1 

Ah, Mr. President, when will this crowd of cormorants, this 
crowd of avaricious thieves and gamblers reach out their long, 
bony hngers to grasp the remaining 12i^ per cent of the 
wealth of this Nation'^ Just when they feel so secure in their 
position that they think the American people will stand it. 
Ah, Mr. President, it would seem that this should have satis- 
fied this crowd working the held of legislation; but not sa 
They again return to the Government and, having grown 
strong and bold, on July 24, 1897, they demand of the Uov- 
ernment that they be permitted to tax every article consumed 
by the crowd working the held of human endeavor. In my 
imagination I can hear the Uovernment say that already this 
crowd is laden with burdens grievous to be borne, and if fur- 
ther burdens are placed upon them it must be so disguised 
that they will not understand it, that they will not appreciate 
it. This crowd of despoilers working the held of legislation 
reply : Let us so sugarcoat it, so capsule it as that they will 
not understand it. We will place a tax ostensibly only upon 
foreign-made articles brought into this country for consump- 
tion. Certainly no objection can be raised to this, and we will 
do this under the guise and specious pretex^ that it is for the 
purpose of protecting American labor employed in the fac- 
tories of the East and North. The Diugley bill was passed; 
a tax was laid upon the consumers of the land, upon the 
toilers, upon the shoulders of the men who are the foundation 
and support of the Government itself. 

Mr. President, I pause for the purpose of saying that if the 
tax of the people of this Government, paid not for the purpose 
of revenue, but to enrich the coffers of this crowd that work 
the field of legislation, were paid directly, hke our State and 
county taxes are paid, to the sheriffs, the American people 
would not stand it for twenty-four hours. There would be 
such a revolution in this country as would shake it from center 
to circumference ; but under this pretext that this burden was 



204 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



laid for the purpose of helping the American laborer and to 
support the Government, the crowd that works the field of 
human endeavor, long-sulfering and patient, have thus far 
borne this burden. How does this tax, Mr. President, make 
the rich richer and the poor poorer/ Is it a tax only upon 
imported articles / 1 say " No, " most positively, "No." The 
American manufacturer is permitted, under this form of legis- 
lation, to charge for an American product a price just a httle 
lower than the foreign article with the tax added, and thereby 
reap not only a wholesome profit, but the benefit of the tax as 
well; and if this did, in fact, help the laborers of the East and 
North, it might, in a sense, be justified, because God com- 
mands that we bear one another's burdens; but, sir, X deny 
that it benefits the laborer. In 1907 the farmers of the ISouth 
and West were fairly prosperous, the god of the harvest had 
blessed them with bountiful crops, their barns were full, their 
stores laid m for the winter, the little country merchant had 
bought his goods for the coming season, his credit was fairly 
good, the local banks throughout the JSouth and West were 
reasonably prosperous, and their money was scattered from 
the home bank to the great money centers of New York to 
cover their bills of exchange. Everything was moving along 
in its usual normal condition, but the South and West awoke 
one morning in the fall of 1907 to find itself in the cold, merci- 
less grasp of one of the most terrible panics that had ever 
occurred in this country. 

This panic, Mr. President, was organized on less than 5 
acres of ground in New York, where these two gigantic gam- 
bling institutions ply their wicked vocations, if I am told 
that this tax laid upon the crowd that works the field of human 
endeavor is for the benefit of the laboring man of the North 
and East, I ask you to go with me to the great cities and there 
inspect the great army of the unemployed as it marches with 
sober, glum, threatening mien in full review; go with me to 
New York, if you please, stand with me on the Brooklyn 
Bridge at the close of the da/ and see the great throng of 
humanity as it surges across that great thoroughfare ; see the 
httle children that ought to be in school or around their 
mother's knee coming grimy and dirty from the sweatshop; 
see the poor mother with babe in her arms, who has been 
trudging the streets all day begging for bread, going to her 
hovel of squalid poverty and want ; see the laboring men out 
of employment, with desperation written upon their faces, 
returning empty-handed to their helpless, dependent f amiUes ; 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 205 



go to the homes of the poor, go to the homes of the unem- 
ployed, go to this great army that is marching up and down 
the land today begging not for bread, not for a hand-out at 
your back door, but an opportunity to work, for an oppor- 
tunity to earn their bread as God commanded, in the sweat of 
their face; for an opportunity to run the race of life freely, 
unshackled, and unhindered ; and tell me, if you will, that this 
tax has brought blessings to the laboring man of the North 
and the East. 

Ah, Mr. President, this oUgarchy of wealth, builded by legis- 
lation, and legislation alone, has reduced to almost serfdom 
the laborers oi this section of our country. They have reached 
that point in the history of the laboring world that they can 
say to this man, ' ' Go, and he goeth ; and to another, Come, and 
he cometh," They dare not resist their master's will; and 
not satisfied with their power there, they are yet conspiring 
to subjugate the laborers of the South and the West, and to 
bring them under the yoke of their bondage by means of ad- 
vantages gained in working the held of legislation. Ah, Mr. 
President, this is a dark picture. I know not what the result 
may be. For the past twelve months the country has been re- 
galed with an exhaustive and learned argument as to whether 
or not the President of the United States had the right to 
discharge a lot of kinky-headed niggers from the army, who, 
in a drunken riot, shot up a helpless and defenseless people. 
And more recently we have been urged to increase the salary 
of all our pubhc officials, that they might more closely imitate 
royalty. 

We stand today face to face with a deficit in our pubhc 
treasury of $150,000,000. Our Government is bankrupt, yet 
we are appropriating the money of the people at the rate of 
perhaps a milhon dollars an hour. The majority in Congress 
seem to be drunk on the wine of success. They fiddle and 
dance and make merry while Rome burns. I say to you, Mr, 
President, that it is time we were calhng a halt, and that the 
Congress of the United States legislate for a httle while in 
the interest of *'01d Man People." lie is a good old man, 
bowed and bent with years; venerable, with long, flowing 
beard. You have each met him. Simple and confiding, trust- 
ful and hopeful, he looks to this Congress for some relief, and 
I ask the Senators here to lend an attentive ear to his demands 
before it is everlastingly too late. 

Mr. President, to what extremes will this oligarchy of 
wealth go in their desperation and madness? It can be best 



206 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

illustrated by a brief study of ancient history. One of the 
greatest retormers that lived in ancient times was Julius 
(Jaesar. He loved the poor people of Kome, and when he re- 
turned from the wars oi loreign conquests, laden with rich 
treasure, he found great tlirongs oi poor people m the streets 
of itome teeoing irom the puunc coiiers. jJid he use tms 
treasure, Mr. rreaiaent, m riotous nving, in great leasts and 
enter lainments f i\o; ne commanaeu tnat tne ricn land aiong 
the xiuer be Dougnt witn puunc tunds, divided into small 
tracts and given to the people tliat tney mignt earn tneir 
bread in tne bweat oi tlieir race. Uaesar lounu mat a conspir- 
acy agamaL tne poor nad ueen lormed oy lirutus, Uassiu«, and 
Uabca, and ine xioman nooiiiiy. iie iound 1110,1 tney were 
lencuiig money at me riunous inierest 01 ±0 per cenij ne lound 
tliat me ricii were noarding meir vveaitn ana tnat money, tlie 
Diood 01 commerce, was not circulating ireeiy among me peo- 
ple, oaesar £> wiii was law, and ne said to mis crowd ol con- 
ttpiratori) oy legiaiauon, lou snail not cnaige a greater rate 
01 inierest tnan J.-V2 pt^^' (itint lor me use 01 your money, and 
shall not lena a gieuter bUm. man one-naii tne amount you 
have invcbted in properly j you snail not iioard more man 
J^5,UdU. ix you do ^ou snail be subjected to neavy penalties 
of tne law. W ouid to Uod we had uaesar in tiie VV mte House 
today ! llhs enraged tne conspirators, the ftoman toenate, and 
wnen Uaesar, upon tiiat later ui day, walked into tneir midst 
believing tliat he was among ms triends, surrounded by the 
treachery of tlie money power, twenty-tiiree kmte wounds 
pierced his body, and wlien he saw tUe blade of ±irutus, his 
trusted friend, raised high m air, he drew the mantle of his 
cloak about his tace and in Ins dying breath, exclaimed, "And 
thou, too, iirutusl" and fell dead at the feet of the statue of 
i:'ompey. Ihis, sir, is a brief history of Itome and its great 
reformer, illustrating the terrible fate that hes in the path of 
any man who seeks to shake loose from the throat of this 
Government these parasites of wealth, these stock gamblers, 
these stock jobbers that attempt to control the destinies of 
the Government. 

Ah, Mr. President, the money power may be pressing the 
American people too far. In some evil hour, in some un- 
guarded moment, a match may be touched to the fuse that con- 
nects with the hidden mine of discontent and dismay that is 
planted beneath this Republic, and I shudder for the conse- 
quences. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 207 

I read a little story in a New York paper recently, illustrat- 
ing aptly, I tliink, the recklessness and wanton disregard of 
the people's rights by the money power of the Government. 
It is said that a beautiful Italian girl with considerable prop- 
erty married one of her countrymen, believing that he was all 
that her young heart had pictured him to be. Soon she dis- 
covered that he was addicted to that terrible vice, the liquor 
habit. Their home soon became a drunkard's home, her prop- 
erty was squandered, poverty in all of its hideous forms 
knocked at their door, until finally she was compelled to go out 
and earn a living for her drunken husband. She was finally 
brought into court and tried, and to the judge she said : 

Judge, he finally suggested that I sell myself for his support; he pressed 
me too far, Judge, and I killed him. 

Ah, Mr. President, the money power of this Government is 
treading upon dangerous ground. They do not know, or else 
they do not care, that the people are already ground down 
with taxation and the weight of Government until their backs 
are almost broken beneath its load. They do not seem to 
appreciate the fact that in his power and strength "Old Man 
People" may rise and smite them. I would not be an alarmist, 
sir, but I predict here and now that unless conditions change, 
that unless the Congress of the United States turn a listening 
ear to the lamentations of an outraged public, that within ten 
years there may be another Shenendoah Valley, there may be 
another Gettysburg; the red broom of war may sweep this 
Government as it has never been swept before, and wheu tbnt 
day shall break in all its fury, woe to the crowd working the 
field of lesnslption that have laid these srrievous burdens upon 
the backs of the crowd worldn^ the field of human endeavor. 

Mr. President, we of the South make but a simrile request: 
we ask onlv the passas-e of a law that will r)roterrt the products 
of our soil: we ask a law that will stay the ruthless hand of 
the orambler. and sive to the men and women of the South a 
just return for their labor and toil. 

And to this end, sir, I submit the bill under consideration, 
and ask that it be referred to the Committee on Agriculture 
and Forestry. 



CHAPTER XI 

ARKANSAS GAZETTE'S REVIEW OF JEFF DAVIS'S 

CAREER. 

August 1, 1906, the Arkansas Gazette published an editorial 
review of Jeff Davis's career and political characteristics, 
covering more than a page, the longest editorial ever pub- 
lished in an Arkansas newspaper. It was at a time when Jeff 
Davis was at the zenith of his career as a political leader. 
The Gazette was not, nor has it ever been, a supporter of 
Senator Davis, but the editor, J. N. Heiskell, who, by a strange 
combination of circumstances, was destined to become his 
immediate successor in the United States Senate seven years 
later, handled his subject with an analytic power and fairness 
that attracted widespread attention. He dealt neither in ful- 
some eulo.gy nor bitter denunciation, but set out boldly and 
with psychological exactness the peculiarities of the man, and 
the author's opinion of the secret of his popular appeal. As 
such the document becomes historic and worthy of preserva- 
tion in permanent form. Therefore, it has been deemed de- 
sirable to reproduce it here in full. It will be read with inter- 
est, whether the reader accepts the writer's conclusions or 
not: 

Jeff Davis. 

We set our hand to a task, a task created by the exigency 
of the hour, by the culmination of political events in Arkansas 
during the past half decade — to explain the remarkable career 
of a remarkable man, Jeff Davis. 

He is indeed a political prodigy. After being Attorney 
General for one term he won the governorship three times and 
now leads in the race for the senatorship. The mere naming 
of his victories does not half tell the story; he has won his 
battles against odds and under circumstances that would have, 
we verily believe, sent down to overwhelming defeat any other 
man in the whole State of Arkansas. 

Whence is his strength and what are the factors of his 
power? 

We answer: 

He is thoroughly democratic in speech, manner and action, 
and is surcharged with personal magnetism. 

He makes the people think he is persecuted for their sake 
and stands between them and oppression. 

He appeals to the human element. 




JUDGE W. M. KAVANAUGH. 

Ex-Sheriff and Ex-County Judge of Pulaski County, Democratic 

National Committeeman, and United States Senator 

for the Short Term, 1913. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 2C9 



He cunningly paints things to his lildng and ingeniously and 
unscrupulously turns them to his advantage. 

He continually does violence to the moral maxim that the 
suppression of truth is the suggestion of falsehood. 

He audaciously and impudently relies on the public's lack 
of information about incidents in issue. 

He appropriates credit for about everything creditable. 

He has a powerful machine. 

He has not met his match. 

11. 

His Infinite Democracy. 

Jeff Davis is genuinely and sincerely democratic. He is 
hail-fellow, well met, with all. His book of etiquette is his 
heart, and his rules of form and manners are nothing more 
than the promptings of his human nature. Any Governor 
might give an apparent welcome to the poorest and humblest 
man or woman that came into his office, but few besides Gov- 
ernor Davis could make the poor and humble feel the genuine- 
ness and sincerity of that welcome, make them feel that he 
was one of them and that his pleasure at seeing them was real. 
And anybody is welcome to call him Jeff, although he is the 
Chief Executive of an important State. 

An American lawyer who had been elected to a little judge- 
ship had to ''double up" at an inn with a plain Irishman who 
drove the conveyance in which the judge traveled around his 
circuit. ''Pat," said the jurist, "you would have been a 
mighty old man before you would ever have slept with a judge 
in Ireland, wouldn't you?" "Yes, Your Honor," answered 
Pat, "and you would have been a mighty old man before you 
would ever have been a judge in Ireland." 

Among the masses of the people Jeff Bryis has a word 
for everybody. He makes himself one with any and all. His 
genius for hitting off homely but happy phra*^ses effectuallv 
breaks the ice between him and those with whom he would 
become acquainted. It is slap-hira-on-the-back— Hello, Bill! 
How's your family? always with Jeff Davis. He is indeed a 
"mixer." He is the most miscible element in Arkansas 
politics. 

He labors to divide the people against themselves in order 
that he may become the champion of the bigger class, those 
whom he invidiously calls "the common people." He makes 
honest people out in the State think that at Little Eock there 



210 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

is an aristocracy of purse-proud plutocrats who menace the 
interests of the plebeians, and that all may be lost unless their 
tribune of the people is kept in power, so that he can effectu- 
ally oppose the sinister machinations of the patricians. To 
an audience of workingmen he ridicules that harmless insti- 
tution called ''society" — that is, the folks w^ho wear formal 
dress and play bridge whist. Then he tells the workingmen 
that he is one of them, and that if he ever ''gives a party" 
they are the people he wants for his guests. It is an easy 
game. Envy inheres in the human breast. In the Reign of 
Terror the cry was continually, "Down with the hated aristo- 
crats." Doubtless some aristocrats were guillotined as a 
protest against the principle of the lordship of one man over 
another in the State, but doubtless many lost their heads sim- 
ply because they were aristocrats, simply because their better 
position in life had earned for them the envy of the masses. 

The inequalities of social and economic conditions in this 
world continually yearn for a voice to cry protest to the seats 
of power. Hearst came within an ace of being elected mayor 
of New York because so many people believed they were not 
getting a square deal, that something was wrong when one 
man had a hundred millions and a palace on Fifth avenue 
and a thousand others had to struggle to keep soul and body 
together in a miserable tenement. In Arkansas Jeff Davis 
is more than a man ; he is a sentiment, a belief, a conviction, 
a credo ; he is a phychological fetich. A certain proprietary 
article is made by a dozen different manufacturers. But 
that made by one of them is so well known and its special 
name stands for so many virtues that it is said a million dol- 
lars has been offered simply for the name. "Jeff" is worth 
much in Arkansas, for that one word, "Jeff," means so much 
to so many people. It stands for something just as the name 
of the proprietary article referred to stands for something. 

The aristocratic political dynasty typified by such men as 
Matthew Butler and Wade Hampton was overthrown in South 
Carolina when Ben Tillman went from his farm and mar- 
shaled the masses against them. A Tennessee congressman 
had for an opponent a rich merchant living in the largest city 
in the district. He would go into the mountains and tell the 
honest but gullible people that his rich opponent had mirrors 
in his house as big as their cabins ; that when the rich candi- 
date was invited to eat at their tables he merely pretended to 
partake of their plain victuals, and when he had left their 
homes he pulled ice cream and cake out of the back of his 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 211 

buggy and feasted on tliem. The cities voted for the rich mer- 
chant, but the country voted for the other fellow, and the lat- 
ter won. 

The novelist of the masses gets sympathetic readers by the 
milhon with a tale of a poor working girl who married a mil- 
Uonaire. We see the same thing on the stage. Jei^ Davis has 
won to himself thousands and thousands of honest men who 
see a difference in their station in life and the station of 
others. Tl' 3y rejoice to look upon him as one of them, and 
they feel themselves honored in his being honored. They see 
in him their champion. He in turn cultivates their friendship 
and patronizes them. We have been told that in his peregrina- 
tions over the IState he will see some man of the ''common 
people" standing not far o±f and privately learn what that 
man's name is. And then he will call that man by name and 
speak in the most familiar terms to him. Naturally the man 
is pleased and flattered when the (iovernor of the State thus 
fraternizes with him. More of historical atavism. Napoleon 
Bonaparte, who was somewhat of a demagogue in a transcen- 
dent way, used to learn from the captain of a company the 
name of some deserving private and ascertain what four he 
was in and what was his number in that four. Say the sol- 
dier's name was Pierre Blanc. Napoleon would walk down 
the line secretly counting as he passed the men and when he 
reached the right number would suddenly stop with an as- 
sumed expression of the greatest surprise. ' ' What ! " he would 
exclaim; "Pierre Blanc hasn't the cross!" And forthwith 
the thunder-bearing emperor of the French would produce a 
cross of the Legion of Honor and with his own hands pin that 
distinguished emblem upon the proud breast of this private 
soldier. Probably one cross thus bestowed was enough for a 
whole company or a whole regiment ; the other privates heard 
about it. And when Napoleon was fleeing from the fatal field 
of Waterloo, beaten and forever vanquished, his career ended 
and his sun gone down, here and there a private soldier, 
wounded unto death, would raise himself from the bloody 
ground and with the last breath in his body, cry "Vive 
rempereur!" 

III. 

His Pseudo-Martyrdom, 

If you can make people think, as Jeff Davis does, that you 
stand between them and oppression and that you are perse- 
cuted for their sake, you have a case before the popular tri- 



212 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



bunal — you have an issue on which to ask a verdict from the 
popular jury. You have a reasonable excuse for asking the 
people to give you the office you are seeking. In a former cam- 
paign he told his audiences that at Glenwood park a business 
men's meeting hissed, hooted and howled him down when he 
tried to make a speech "in the interest of the plain people of 
the State. ' ' In discussing the legislative hearing on the anti- 
trust bill he said (in his campaign against Judge Wood), that 
the committee had sent for witnesses. 

"Whom did they send for, my fellow citizens?" he asked. 
' 'Did they send for the farmer ; did they send for the laborer ; 
did they send for the manufacturer; did they send for the 
mechanic; did they send for the merchant; did they send for 
the class of citizens who bare their breasts and their arms 
and their backs to the heat and burdens of the day 1 No, they 
sent for the insurance agents from Pine Bluff, from Helena, 
and from Fort Smith. They sent for a high-collared crowd — 
that crowd that wear collars so high they can't see the sun 
except at high noon, looking over the tops of their collars. 
They sent for that crowd that, when they shake hands with 
you, they only give you the tip of two hngers ; that crowd that 
you can 't tell from their tracks whether they are going north 
or coming back. ' ' 

"Why do you support Jeff Davis?" And many an honest 
man will answer, "Because I believe he is being persecuted." 
Human nature is so sympathetic that it readily and willingly 
makes some mortal's imagined grievance its own. Take the 
famous case of the "Tichborne Claimant" as showing this 
interesting and praiseworthy trait of humanity. 

Sir Roger Tichborne sailed from England for Australia 
while a young man, and his vessel was lost at sea, with all 
hands. Twenty-five years later a man appeared who claimed 
to be Sir Roger, and so entitled to the estate, which yielded 
an income of $140,000 a year. His claim was contested and 
he required enormous amounts of money to pay big lawyers' 
fees, bring witnesses from the other side of the world and sup- 
port himself in becoming style. Thousands of persons sent 
him money, not as an investment, but simply because they 
believed he was about to be defrauded out of his rights. ' ' The 
Claimant" became a public character, and a considerable 
part of the public supported him, both morally and financially. 
Finally the fellow's own brother swore that the alleged Sir 
Roger Tichborne was Arthur Orton, a butcher of Walla 
Walla, Australia, who had emigrated from London. Then 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 213 

the claimant was prosecuted for perjury. But did the public 
desert this arrant fraud! No. Many believed the brother 
was guilty of perjury in swearing that he was the claimant's 
brother and confidently held that he had been paid by the 
other side to swear falsely. And so they continued to con- 
tribute to his defense fund up to the time he was sentenced 
to 14 years' imprisonment. 

Why did thousands of people that had never seen and prob- 
ably never heard of the Tichbornes give their sympathy and 
their money to this fellow? Because they believed that wealth 
and power had conspired against him to keep him out of his 
title and his property. All a man needs to do to get the sup- 
port of the public is to make that public think he is being 
unfairly treated, that he is being persecuted, that he is a 
martyr. 

IV. 

A Master of Humanics. 

Jeff Davis constantly and skilfully appeals to the human 
element. His speeches are devoid of either dry ashes or 
frigid icicles, and are full of heart interest. He smartly real- 
izes that you must be human to the human if you would reach 
and move the human. Hearts throb only in sympathy with 
other hearts, and tears start quickest at the sight of their 
own kind. Newspapers — some of the biggest in the country — 
tell their reporters and correspondents to get stories with 
''heart interest" in them. For are not the papers to be sold 
to people that have hearts! A report of a speech delivered 
in the United States Senate by the most distinguished lawyer 
in that body on the constitutional aspects of some pending 
treaty is a very important matter, and a newspaper would 
commonly give it the space its importance deserves. Yes, 
such a speech would be very important, but, really, who would 
read it? Then let a newspaper publish a story of heart inter- 
est — about a girl who falls in love with a condemned mur- 
derer, who conceives and executes a daring plot to effect his 
escape, who flies with him and receives in her own heart the 
bullet that the pursuing officers intended for her lover — w^ho 
fails to read it? 

Why do people that go to libraries leave dusty on the 
shelves the works of the master minds of all ages while they 
devour the cheap and tawdry tales of the loves of man and 
womankind? The play that fills the theater is the one that 
moves the emotions of the audience. These shrewd actor 



214 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



people show us a maiden that has seen better days and is pre- 
vented from seeing them again only by the monstrous machi- 
nations of a paid and perfidious villain. The audience sor- 
rows and grieves for the oppressed and unfortunate leading 
lady, only to wipe away its tears and rejoice when she tri- 
umphs over every temptation and difficulty and wins the goal 
of perfect love and happiness just before time for the com- 
pany to take the train for Pine Bluff. 

Jeff Davis makes his speeches throb like a human heart. 
In his campaign against Colonel Rector he told of visiting one 
of the State convict camps. *'The first sight that greeted 
my eyes," he said, "was a great, big, black negro with a pump 
gun guarding the white men and driving them down the row 
and saying: *Hoe that cotton, damn you, or I \vill kill you.' " 
Now what could more effectively rouse Southern white people 
than such a picture as that? Here he anticipated "The Clans- 
man" several years. 

"I have always loved the people in the mountains," he said 
in his Eureka Springs speech (in the Wood campaign). Since 
I was a small boy and read the tale of the Scottish Chiefs I 
have always loved the hardy Highlander. When I was prose- 
cuting attorney of my district and rode over the hills and 
valleys of my home county, often at night I have seen far up 
on the mountain side a tiny light; I have heard the bleating 
of a goat or the tinkle of a cowbell or the baying of the 
friendly watchdog. I have gone to that home, humble though 
it was, and there received the most generous hospitahty the 
world can afford— and I love the people of the hills," etc. 

Judge Wood delivered a dissenting opinion in the anti-trust 
suits brought by Jeff Davis as Attorney General. Governor 
Davis attacked Judge Wood for this, but he did not talk in 
terms of lawyers and courts. ' ' When I was prosecuting attor- 
ney of my district," he said, "I never failed to procure a con- 
viction of a defendant when I could show that he fired a shot 
into the prostrate and inanimate body of the deceased after 
he had fallen to the ground, and I tell you here today that 
Judge Wood, not satisfied with the decision of the other four 
judges in this case, rendered an independent decision, ran 
ahead of the hounds and fired a shot into the dead and help- 
less corpse of the anti-trust law of 1899 ; and the good people 
of his State will convict him at the ballot box for this out- 
rage. ' ' 

He referred to the alleged Little Rock ice combination as 
"a trust on thirst and fever, a trust on the sickroom." 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 215 

Called to account for pardoning some convict richly deserv- 
ing of punishment — some convict whose release may have 
been secured through a ''pardon attorney," Jeff Davis can 
paint a picture of youthful innocence or white-haired old age 
kept from a dying mother or suffering family by the dark 
walls of the Arkansas penitentiary. His audience begins to 
cry and in its tears the charge against the Governor is washed 
away. 

''My fellow-citizens," he said in one of his speeches, "you 
do not know what it is to be Governor of Arkansas ; you do 
not know what it is to hold the power of life and death in your 
hands, to hold the power of punishment and forgiveness. On 
the one hand you are besieged by the white-winged angels of 
mercy, on the other hand by the stern demand of law. Do not 
criticise, my fellow citizens, an executive for exercising mercy. 
I have a little boy at home eight years old, God bless his little 
soul ! If he should get into trouble in after years and get into 
the penitentiary, I would kiss the very feet of the Governor 
who would give him a pardon. I would wash his feet with 
my tears. If it were your son or your brother or father, I 
could not write the pardon quick enough; I could 
not sign my name quick enough. Judge Wood said the 
other day in one of his speeches that any old woman could get 
a pardon at my office who came there crying. I want to say 
to you, my fellow citizens, that I thank God that my heart has 
not become so stilled, so cold and callous that the tears of the 
mothers in Israel will not move me to pity, and when I get 
this way I want God to take me not only out of the Governor's 
office, but off this old earth of ours. God bless you old 
mothers in Israel; God bless their prayers and their tears; 
and mothers, when you offer up your devotion tonight, if you 
can spare one moment, lisp a prayer for the pardoning Gov- 
ernor of Arkansas. If you don't want your boys pardoned, 
don't come crying around my office, because I can not stand 
it, and do not try to stand it." 

The pardoning Governor did not mention the blind tiger 
proprietors for whom the white-winged angels of mercy have 
done such yeoman work in getting relief from the penalties 
in hundreds of convictions. And the Governor's hearers were 
too polite or too suffused mth tears in their eyes to inject 
an interpolation concerning this class of cases. 

In the Wood campaign Governor Davis played unceasingly 
upon the emotions if not the passions of his hearers by the 
use he made of the Esther Waren lawsuit, in which a child 



216 THE LIFE OE SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

two and one-half years old had had both hands cut off by a 
freight train. It was a pitiful case, and the jury in the lower 
court gave the child a verdict for $40,000, but the Supreme 
Court, by a vote of three to two, reversed the case and sent 
it back for a new trial. Governor Davis's opponent for the 
Democratic nomination for Governor was a justice of the 
Supreme Court that reversed this case. He made powerful 
and effective use of it. 

After exaggerating the sufferings of this child, which were 
surely terrible enough without exaggeration, Governor Davis 
charged that the case was ''delayed" in the Supreme Court 
for two years until it was thought the child would die. ''For 
more than two years the case lay there," he 'said. "The Su- 
preme Court finally reversed the case and sent it back for a 
new trial, saying that $40,000, in their judgment, was too much 
for this injury, and in delivering the opinion of the court. 
Judge Wood and this bench said: "This little child, had he 
lived, could not be supposed to have amounted to more than 
the ordinary man." Ah, my friends, this is a supposition in 
favor of the railroad company. Was the goddess of justice 
blind then, or did she have one eye open seeina: that the rail- 
road company was involved against the little child? Why 
should the court presume anything about the case? Wliv not 
let the verdict of the jury that saw the child and knew all the 
facts stand? But if they were going to indulge in presump- 
tion, why not presume that this little child would have been 
president of a railroad company, president of a bank, even a 
judge of the Supreme Court, or perhaps President of the 
TJnited States? Judsre Wood, when you indulged in this pre- 
sumption against the little child the s-oddess of justice was 
not blind; and when the attorneys knew that vou had reversed 
the case on account of too much damasre they went to you 
and begged you to remit so much of the damages as you 
thought were excessive. You refused to do this, but reversed 
the case and sent it back for a new trial. The child died and 
the railroad went scot free. * * * Ah, Judge Wood, we 
are told by the ministers and by Holy Writ that when we go 
to that blessed land where there is no sorrow, and no sin, and 
no death, that we will know each other then as we know each 
other on earth ; that you. Judge Wood, T\dll know your father 
there, and that I will know my four little babies that have 
gone on ahead. Oh, Judge Wood, I pray the good Lord that 
when you get to that better land, that little Esther Waren mil 
have been supplied with his hands and feet, and that you will 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 2)7 

not bear him screaming, 'Where are my hands, mamma? 
Where are my hands?' Judge Wood, this case ought to burn 
your conscience and soul at night; it ought to haunt you in 
your sleep; it ought to visit you in your dreams, this httle 
child screaming for bis hands." 

Governor Davis has viciously attacked Senatory Berry for 
voting againts the Hatch bill which proposed to put a tax on 
dealing in futures. Senator Berry believed this bill to be un- 
constitutional and^favored the George bill, which prohibited 
absolutely dealing In futures. But what we want to call atten- 
tion to here is Governor Davis's skill in vitahzing — in human- 
izing—this matter. After describing the Cotton Exchange at 
New York, where he saw them ''change the price of cotton 
the world over $5 a bale," he said: 

As I came up White River the other day, along that stream more beautiful 
than the Hudson, out of the car window I saw little children, girls and boys, 
thinly clad on a cold, frosty morning, children just as dear to their parents 
as yours or mine are to us, picking the cotton, pulling it from the bolls, 
their little hands almost frozen. When I saw this sight, my fellow-citizens! 
my mind turned back to that other scene in New York City, where the 
gamblers of Wall Street sat around the gambling table gambling, not only iu 
the products of the soil of the South, but gambling in the flesh and blood 
and bone of the children of the South, and my heart cried aloud: "My God! 
Is there no help in Israel? Is there no help for the children of the South?" 

V. 

A Magician in Word Effects. 

Jeff Davis is a genius at painting things to his liking and 
turning them to his advantage. In this he is both unscrupu- 
lous and ingenious. He can make white appear black and 
black white. He is a magician, a veritable prestidigitator. 
It is Presto! Change, and something that was hurtful to Jeff 
Davis has become something helpful to him. 

As everybody knows, Governor Davis was excluded from 
fellowship in the Second Baptist Church of Little Rock on 
charges. It would seem that such an experience as that would 
be a terrible handicap to a candidate for Governor, especially 
ina State where there are thousands of Baptists. Not so with 
this magician. He made it a thing of advantage to him. 

*'My fellow citizens," he would say, "I was excluded from 
the Second Baptist Church in Little Rock. A lot of high- 
combed roosters down there. Judge Wood among the mem- 
bers, turned me out of the church for political purposes with- 
out a trial, without a hearing, thinking that they could ruin 
me in that way; but when the little church at Russellville, 
where I was raised, heard of this indignity, this outrage, they 



218 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

sent for me to come home and join the church of which I had 
been a member for twenty years, and more than a hundred 
members were present when I was restored." 

Judge Wood showed that the attention of the Little Rock 
church was first called to Grovernor Davis by "a little country 
church at Mammoth Spring," in which, presumably, there 
were no ''high-combed roosters;" that the charges were pre- 
ferred during one of Governor Davis's campaigns, but the 
Little Rock church refused to take action before the primaries 
had been held because it wanted to avoid every suspicion of 
preferring charges against the Governor for political pur- 
poses; that a committee delivered the charges to Governor 
Davis and took his written receipt for them, also notifying 
him of the date of the trial, but when the time came, Judge 
Wood said, Governor Davis was in Chicot County on a fishing 
expedition. Judge Wood had testimony saying that the total 
number of persons present when Governor Davis was rein- 
stated in the Russellville Baptist church was twelve, and sev- 
eral of these were his relatives. 

But, no. A man who had been turned out of a Little Rock 
church for political purposes by a lot of high-combed roosters 
was a martyr, was entitled to the sympathy and votes of the 
people — and got a large quantity of each. 

In 1904 he was running against a Supreme Court judge for 
the nomination for Governor. Obviously by one of the very 
first of his rules of war, the thing to do was to attack the 
court in an effort to create feeling against this one of its mem- 
bers who was opposing him. How did he do it? This way, 
for instance : 

A poor farmer lost some personal property by the burning 
of a railroad freight depot. He sued for damages and lost 
his case in the Supreme Court. Governor Davis would tell 
these facts to his audience and then ask, "Ah, my fellow-citi- 
zens, doesn't that look a little railroady to you?" Of course, 
it is easily conceivable that justice and law may have been 
wholly on the side of the railroad in this case. But what 
would be the use of any one trying to explain to a political 
gathering some fine point of law? The farmer was poor, he 
lost his goods, and the Supreme Court decided in favor of 
the railroad. Therefore, according to Davis logic, the court is 
a railroad court — or at least it is "a little railroady," and 
no justice of that court is a friend of the people. 

How did he turn to good account his attempted impeach- 
ment in the Legislature of 1903 and make himself appear a 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 219 

suffering martyr? ''Gentlemen," he told his audiences in the 
Wood campaign, ''during this anti-trust fight the Legislature, 
began a warfare on me that was cruel and unjust. I can 
imagine that I was in their caucus, that I was in their council, 
that I heard their plans. They said, we must do something 
with Jeff Davis or he wall pass this anti-trust law ; we must 
tie his hands, we must do something; the case is desperate. 
Then they said, we will impeach him. My fellow-citizens, you 
know what impeachment means? If any of you should be sent 
to the penitentiary it would take away your citizenship, your 
right to vot^, to sit on a jury or to hold office, but the Gov- 
ernor of this State, by his pardoning power, could restore 
vour citizenship: but if the Leonslature should impeach your 
Governor, no power on earth could restore his citizenship; he 
would be sent out in the world a diss-raced and undone man. 
You know that the State of Arkansas has been in the Union 
since 1836. We have had all kinds of Governors, and no one, 
not even old Powell Clayton, that hell-hound and demon that 
ran rous-h-shod and rampant over the nVhts of the people of 
this State — no attempt was ever made to impeach him — no 
one but me. Ah, my ffood women, did you ever read that 
sweet book, the "Scarlet Letter?" Do you remember how 
that 2-nod woman was comr>elled to s-o throue-h life with that 
scarlet letter of infamy and shame branded upon her breast? 
This Arkansas Lesrislature said, we will brand the scarlpt Ipf- 
ter of infamv and shame, not onlv unon his breast, but ur»on 
the breast of his aered father and mother, upon the breast of 
his wife and babies: we will disgrace him, we will ruin him, 
we will impeach him." 

Notice how cunningly Governor Davis srave his hearers the 
impression that the attempt to impeach him was an effort to 
prevent the anti-tmst bill from passing. Notice that he says 
the Lejrislature bec-an the "cruel and uniust warfare" on him 
"during this anti-trust fight;" that the legislators said, "We 
must do something with Jeff Davis or he will pass this anti- 
trust law; we must tie his hands. * * * Then they said, 
we will impeach him." 

Of course the facts are, that this "warfare" on Governor 
Davis was an investigation by the Ways and Means Com- 
mittee of the House, and was brought on by charges made by 
Governor Davis, in his message to the Legislature, concern- 
ing the purchase of the Cummins place for a convict farm. 
The "warfare" resulted from the warfare he made in his 



220 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

message on other members of the penitentiary board, and 
had no earthly connection with the anti-trust bill. 

VI. 

Trusts in the Public's Lack of Infoemation. 

Jeff Davis audaciously and impudently relies on public ig- 
norance — not on public illiteracy, but on the public's lack of 
information. Strange indeed that this could be a safe thing to 
rely on, but it is, seemingly. He tells one side of a matter 
and counts on the public not knowing the other side. And the 
public seldom fails him. 

In the Wood campaign Governor Davis perforce had to deal 
with his attempted impeachment in the Legislature of 1903. 
After summing up for himself, he would say : 

This testimony was submitted back to the Legislature; should they not 
have found some verdict? Should they not either have acquitted or con- 
victed me? They refused to do either; they said in substance and in effect: 
"We will muddy him up; we will blacken his character; we will ruin his 
family; we will destroy his good name if we can; we'll neither acquit nor 
convict him, but we will refer it back to the people for their judgment and 
determination." 

But Governor Davis did not tell that the plurality report of 
the Ways and Means Committee, though it said the committee 
had no power to make "comments or suggestions," was a con- 
demnation of him ; that it got 43 ayes to 44 noes in the house 
and that a change of one vote would have adopted this report. 

Is it safe to rely on the public's lack of information? In his 
recent race Governor Davis pleaded for the support of ex- 
Confederates by bringing up his father's war record. "He 
was a Baptist minister when the war broke out," said Gov- 
ernor Davis from every stump, "but he laid down his Bible 
and picked up his rifle, and if history speaks the truth, he 
bore it as gallantly and as bravely as any soldier in this great 
conflict." Ex-Confederates who should know say his father 
was conscripted in 1864, served a few days as a private and 
then got a chaplain's commission. 

VIL 

Telling Half the Truth. 

Jeff Davis seems to be utterly oblivious to the moral maxim, 
" Suppressio veri; suggestio falsi.'' Of course, everybody 
knows that a false impression may be conveyed by sup- 
pressing a part of the truth about a matter. Harry, angered 



f 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 221 



at Jimmie, says to their mother in Jimmie's absence, " Jimmie 
took a pie out of the pantry today." Mother vows punish- 
rnent for Jimmie and gives a pie to Harry as a reward of 
virtue. On returning, Jimmie explains that his grandmother, 
who had the disposing authority, gave him the pie. 

Governor Davis fiercely attacked Senator Berry on the 
ground that when Berry was Governor he had allowed the 
railroads to escape taxation. He said : 

What does this act of 1883 say, signed by Senator Berry and executed 
by him? 

"The railroads of this State shall list their property for taxation every 
two years, but they shall not include or value for taxation embankments, 
tunnels, cuts, ties, trestles or bridges." 

The railroads shall not do what? 

They shall not include for taxation embankments, tunnels, cuts, ties, 
trestles or bridges. 

Ah, my friends, cut out this property, and how much railroad have you 
left? Nothing but the iron rails, the depot buildings and the trains them- 
selves. In other words, by this act of 1883, Senator Berry exempted three- 
fourths of the railroad property in this State from taxation. 

''And if I had been your Governor in 1883, 1 certainly would 
have vetoed this act that exempted embankments, tunnels, 
cuts, ties, trestles and bridges from taxation," said Governor 
Davis. ''Is there any man in this audience that has any prop- 
erty exempted from taxation?" 

Now what are the facts, which must be known to Governor 
Davis perfectly well? Governor Berry recommended that the 
railroads be taxed. He had nothing to do with the bill ex- 
empting tunnels, bridges, etc. The bill did not reach him 
until after the Legislature had adjourned. If he had vetoed 
it the railroads would have paid no taxes w^hatever. 

Did Governor Davis tell that? Not a word of it. Notice 
how cunningly he attempts to make the Legislature's action 
Governor Berry's action. He said in his speeches in the last 
campaign : 

What does this act of 1883 say, signed by Senator Berry and executed by 
him? 

In other words, by this act of 1883 Senator Berry exempted three-fourths 
of the railroad property in this State from taxation. 

Yet Senator Berry, by the act of 1883, exempted embankments, tunnels, 
ties, cuts, trestles and bridges, the property of the railroad company, from 
taxation. 

Of course. Senator (Governor) Berry did not exempt this 
property; the Legislature exempted 'it. Governor Berry 
signed fhe bill, but, as said, if he had vetoed it, the railroads 
would have paid no taxes whatever. But his vetoing the bill 
would not necessarily have saved him from attack by Gov- 
ernor Davis, for Davis would doubtless have charged that 
while the Legislature exempted tunnels, cuts, etc., Governor 



222 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Berry ''ran ahead of the hounds," and by vetoing the bill 
after the Legislature adjourned, saved the railroads from 
paying even those taxes they would have had to pay under the 
Legislature's act. 

Governor Davis attacked Senator Berry on the settlement 
between Arkansas and the United States. He showed that 
Senator Berry, in a speech in the Senate, had fiercely de- 
nounced the amendment giving to the Iron Mountain the lands 
that the State claimed, and yet two months later had urged 
that the Arkansas Legislature ratify the settlement with this 
amendment in the bill. 

"Is this the same man?" asked Governor Davis in his 
speeches. "Ah, Senator Berry, that monster that looked so 
hideous to you then became gentle and pleasing in its mien. 
That wrong that looked so wrong became right. You turned 
a somersault; you faced right about and you ask the Arkansas 
Legislature to give away these lands," etc. But Governor 
Davis did not tell that Senator Berry favored the Legislature 
ratifying the settlement simply because he thought there was 
nb chance to get the bill through the house without the objec- 
tionable amendment. 

In attacking Senator Berry for voting against the Hatch 
anti-option bill, Governor Davis told his hearers to turn to 
the Congressional Record, "and there you will find the vote on 
this bill, and the first name that appears of those who voted 
against this Hatch bill was that of Senator Berry of Arkan- 
sas." Governor Davis did not explain that on roll calls the 
names of the Senators are called alphabetically, and that 
necessarily a Senator whose name begins with "B" would be 
among the first to vote for or against any measure. If Sen- 
ator Berry had voted for the Hatch bill and his name began 
with "Z" instead of "B," Governor Davis might say, "Yes, 
my fellow-citizens, he voted for the bill, but the Congressional 
Record shows that he was the very last Senator to do so." 

VIII. 

Takes Credit For About All That Is Good. 

Governor Davis audaciously appropriates to himself credit 
for about everything creditable. He is the personification of 
jactant egotism. His is not vanity. He is not conceited. His 
offense consists in his making pretense that about all that is 
good in Arkansas, from enlargement of an eleemosynary in- 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 223 

stitution to the surplus in the treasury, has its legal situs in 
the ego of which he is the owner and proprietor. 

He mentions the $64,000 of bonds retired by the Funding 
Board and says **the entire debt of the State during my ad- 
ministration has been wiped out." "This has been one of 
my highest ambitions," he would say, "that when I leave the 
Governor's office I shall leave my State absolutely free from 
indebtedness. ' ' He takes credit for the condition of the treas- 
ury, for the enlargement of the State Hospital for Nervous 
Diseases, for the rebuilding of the deaf mute buildings that 
were destroyed by fire — and he is careful to point out that the 
fire occurred during Governor Jones's administration. His 
own is fireproof, presumably. He takes credit for the addi- 
tional money the taxpayers have paid to the school fund, and 
for the additional money paid to Confederate veterans as 
pensions, for the money appropriated by the Legislature for 
additional buildings at the University of Arkansas. In speak- 
ing of the assessment of the railroads for taxation he says "I 
had steadily increased their valuation until 1903." 

IX. 

His Powerful Machine. 

But it is not merely by verbal appeals to the people that 
Jeff Davis has succeeded. He has built up one of the most 
powerful and effective political machines that any man in 
pmblic life in Arkansas has ever had. The great central motor 
shaft rises out of the executive office in the Capitol at Little 
Rock. To it are geared wheels that correspond with the coun- 
ties surrounding Pulaski. These engage other wheels repre- 
senting other counties and so on until the whole State is cov- 
ered — until when the master shaft revolves its cogs impart its 
motion to the wheels in all the other counties. 

In organization Governor Davis follows the scheme of the 
ancient Persian empire or that of China of today. He has a 
right bower in each county whom he holds responsible for that 
county just as the Great King had a satrap and the Chinese 
emperor has a viceroy in each province. These are the big 
wheels that are geared at last into the great shaft at Little 
Rock. But this is only the skeleton of the machine. It is 
built up of offices, employments, honors and pardons. 

In his five years' tenure he has appointed numerous men 
to good offices. He has gratified others with honors. He has 
pardoned hundreds upon hundreds. He has favored and 



224 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



accommodated many men and interests. He has drawn to him 
thousands of men and solidilied them into a dependable fol- 
lowing. He has been the Jehu of the band wagon, into which 
so many thousands of men must have a seat even though they 
chuck their late convictions into the tall grass by the side of 
the road only the moment they see the dust that indicates the 
coming of the most popular of vehicular impedimoita. ^ The 
love that all the world bears for a lover is Platonic affection of 
cold storage temperature compared to the love that the world 
has for a winner. 

You must know that a man is some pumpkins in his baili- 
wick when he can say, "I'll get the Governor to do so and so," 
with the certainty of being able to deliver the goods by jump- 
ing on the train and paying a visit to Little Rock or by making 
the long distance electric current the swift Mercury of liis 
desire. 

The high sheriff of the county is generally the king bee of 
the politics of his shire. Probably two-thirds of the sheriffs 
in Arkansas are component parts of the Governor's machine. 
They are a great and effective force. It can not be denied 
that Governor Davis, by the use of the veto pen and the par- 
don blank, has been a valuable friend to the hquor interests 
of Arkansas. These interests, accustomed to combination and 
active participation in pohtics— being forced at times to en- 
gage in a struggle for their very existence, for the right to 
live — are a powerful poUtical machine in themselves, but their 
machine has been merely a part of that far greater and more 
powerful enginery that serves the political fortunes of Jeff 
Davis. 

And the wheels and levers of all this enginery are always 
moving. Governor Davis sits in his office with the long dis- 
tance telephone at ear and mouth. He is in constant touch 
with the subengineers of his great machine— he continually 
talks to them and advises with them. These subengineers are 
often in Little Rock, in personal conference with the chief. 
And then the head of the machine himself visits every county 
in the State in his campaigns and sees to it that each part of 
the State-wide engine is in good order and ready for the work 
appointed to it. 

This machine continually grinds out campaign literature. 
Governor Davis has a mailing list containing the names of 
many thousands of Arkansas voters. Some charge is made 
against him, he writes a reply, has thousands of circulars or 
pamphlets struck off and through the mails they are sowed 




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THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 225 

broadcast over the State. During the last five years he must 
have spent a fortune for printing and postage. 

X. 

He Has Not Met His Match. 

Then no man has appeared in Arkansas politics in the last 
half decade who was a match for Jeff Davis in the rough-and- 
tumble style of fighting of which he is the exponent. We be- 
lieve Attorney General Kogers could have fought Davis to 
a standstill, for Rogers is a power before an audience and can 
and will turn just as many tricks as Davis. But Rogers has 
never run against Davis; they have ''sideswiped" each other 
a few times, that's all. A Webster or ISumner might utterly 
fail at combating J elf Davis on the stump. He would eat 'em 
alive. Rhetoric and logic do not always win. James Cham- 
berlain Jones of Tennessee, whom the older generation will 
remember as "Lean Jimmie Jones," was a candidate for Gov- 
ernor of that State in 1841 against Governor James K. Polk, 
afterward President of the United states. But on the stump, 
Lean Jimmie made fun of James K., laughed at him, cast him 
in ridiculous attitudes and painted him in motley colors. Polk 
protested that Jones was making a circus of the campaign — 
but nearly everybody likes to go to a circus. If a man has 
quick wit and homely humor, a well-developed sense of the 
ridiculous and some mimetic ability he could find no better 
subject on which to do so with his enchantments than Jeff 
Davis. His heroics might be transformed in an instant into 
the burlesque, his tearful passages into boohoos and his 
grandiloquent thrills into laughter-making fustian. Cervantes 
"laughed" Spain's chivalry away; he did not argue it or 
denounce it out of existence. We have been told that in one of 
Jeff Davis's campaigns his opponent arose and fiercely de- 
nounced Davis in unmeasured terms for alleged misrepresen- 
tations. Did Davis fight, cut, stab or shoot — either bullets 
or epithets? No. He simply said to the audience that his 
opponent had been put in the race to kill him; that he knew 
his opponent would take his life before the race was over. 
"But," said he about to die, saluting them, "all I ask is that 
when I am dead, j^ou bury me in the old graveyard and write 
on my headstone the words: 'He died a martyr to the com- 



226 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVJS 



mon people.' " Did Don Quixote ever perpetrate anything 
richer than that? And Davis never cracked a smile. 



Some man should write a treatise, ''Historical Parallels 
Between the Careers and Methods of Napoleon Bonaparte and 
Jeff Davis" — some man who knows as much about the Corsi- 
can as about the Arkansan and enough about both. Napoleon 
Bonaparte kept indefatigably and everlastingly at it and ac- 
complished, at any price possible for him to pay, his set and 
determined purpose. So does Jeff Davis. 



CHAPTER XII 

MEMORIAL ADDRESSES DELIVERED IN THE 

UNITED STATES SENATE ON THE LIFE AND 

SERVICE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS. 

(From the Congressional Record, March 1, 1913.) 

Mr. Clarke of Arkansas : Mr. President, I ask unanimous 
consent for the present consideration of the resolutions which 
I send to the desk. 

The Presiding Officer (Mr. Page in the chair). The reso- 
lutions submitted by the Senator from Arkansas will be read. 

The resolutions were read, considered by unanimous con- 
sent, and unanimously agreed to, as follows : 

Resolved, That the Senate has heard with deep sorrow of the death of tne 
Hon. Jeff Davis, late a Senator from the State of Arkansas. 

Resolved, That as a mark of respect to the memory of the deceased the 
business of the Senate be now suspended to enable his associates to pay 
proper tribute to his high character and distinguished public services. 

Resolved, That the Secretary communicate a copy of these resolutions to 
the House of Representatives and transmit a copy thereof to the family of 
the deceased. 

By Mr. Clarke of Arkansas. 

Mr. President, Senator Jeff Davis — and he delighted to call 
himself Jeff, and to have his intimate friends do the same — 
died suddenly at his home in Little Rock on January 2, 1913. 
As I said on another occasion, thus ended abruptly and prema- 
turely the career of one of the most extraordinary men who 
made his appearance in the South in a generation. A simple 
recital of the events of his life, in sufficient detail to make his 
methods, his purposes, and his plans understood, w^ould 
demonstrate this beyond reasonable dispute or cavil, but the 
proprieties of the present occasion will be satisfied with a less 
comprehensive treatment of the subject. Perhaps the time 
has not as yet come when this can be done impartially and 
fully. While the tongue of criticism and complaint is stilled 
by the shock caused by his death, and in the presence of his 
sorrowing family and friends, permanent impressions never- 
theless exist which will inevitably find expression, when the 
sadness and sympathy of the hour shall have been forgotten, 
by those outside of the crushed and sorrowing circle of his 
family. This element may demand a hearing before a final 
and accepted judgment shall be entered against his name and 
fame. 



228 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

Senator Davis was born in Little River County, Arkansas, 
on May 6, 1862. His father was Judge Lewis W. Davis, in 
early life a Baptist clerg^nnan, and subsequently a practicing 
lawy^er of respectable attainments and high character. His 
mother still survives, and is noted among those who know her 
as a woman of strong character, superior intelligence, and 
noble qualities as a wife, mother, and as a leader in the 
Christian and charitable work of the communities in which she 
has resided. While the dead Senator was yet a boy his father 
moved with his family to the county of Pope, where he resided 
until the time of his death, which occurred a few years since. 
There young Davis spent his boyhood until he entered the 
University of the State of Arkansas, where he remained for a 
period less than that required to cover the prescribed course 
for graduation. Shortly after he left the university he was 
chosen prosecuting attorney of one of the most important 
districts of the State. He discharged the duties of that office 
in a way that strikingly directed to him the attention of a 
section of the State which largely exceeded the boundaries of 
his district. At that time there was a well-organized and 
fierce conflict raging between what was then known as the 
People's Party and the dominant party of the State. 

The young prosecuting attorney was frequently taken from 
his labors in his district and sent to distant parts of the State 
to maintain the principles and support of the candidates of 
the Democratic Party. His methods of debate were unique 
and forceful, and never failed to leave behind him an impres- 
sion that caused the event to be recalled for a long time after 
his departure. About the time he was elected prosecuting 
attorney he was married to Miss Ina McKenzie, herself the 
daughter of a Methodist minister. It is worth while, in 
passing, to call attention to the remarkable contribution made 
to the effective working forces of society by the pioneer 
Christian preachers of our frontier civilization. The personal 
hardships of this ministry, and the rugsred qualities of stead- 
fastness to a high purpose which caused them to devote them- 
selves to the salvation of a weak and fallen huraanitv, repro- 
duced their honesty and masterful qualities of fidelity in an 
offspring that constitute many of the leaders of the race in 
the communities where they cast their lot. The history of 
nearly every community in the Southwest will disclose 
instances which furnish verification for this observation. The 
case of Senator Davis, and that of his beloved and devoted 
wife, bear as strong evidence of this as any incident within 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 229 

my personal observation. Senator Davis was the beneficiary 
of much good hick and many fortunate contingencies, but in 
my humble opinion none of them have so profoundly affected 
his career as the circumstances which directed his course 
across the pathway of Ina McKenzie and united his destiny 
with hers. I enjoyed abundant opportunities for knowing 
personally that she was a woman of a masterful mind, strong 
convictions, and of gentle and powerful personality. She was 
the only person I ever knew who could influence Senator Davis 
against what appeared to be his settled and fixed whims or 
purposes. With a woman's intuition she knew exactly what 
he ought to do, and where her judgment conflicted with his, 
she generally found means to cause her views and wishes to 
be respected. She was not an unsexed woman who ruled by 
force of command, but she employed in her conquest womanly 
qualities only. These she possessed without limit, and by the 
exertion of them was able to control in such a way as to be in 
fact the helpmate of her husband, and to become the head of 
a family of children whose habits, character, and demeanor 
testify to the fact that while she was familiar with the contro- 
versies and methods of affairs outside of the home circle, that 
above all she was at her best in her home. A few years since 
she died, leaving behind her a mourning family of splendid 
children and a distressed host of friends, all only too sensible 
of the fact that they had lost a devoted mother and an inspired 
counsellor. A short time before his death. Senator Davis was 
married to Miss Lelia Carter, a member of one of the oldest 
and most respected families in western Arkansas. A host of 
devoted friends have tendered the inadequate and unavailing 
consolation of sympathy to her in the hour of her great 
bereavement. 

Shortly after the termination of his service as prosecuting 
attorney Senator Davis became a candidate for Attorney Gen- 
eral, one of the most important offices in the State. In those 
days we did not have what is known as a general or blanket 
primary election for the selection of party candidates. Each 
county selected its delegates to the State convention, and the 
method of selection was determined by each county for itself. 
These were usually held on different days and by different 
methods. Some employed a county primary to express the 
preferences to be supported in the State convention, while 
some held what is known as township or precinct meetings to 
select delegates to a county convention, which in turn would 
express the preference of the county for the particular State 



230 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



offices. There were several candidates in opposition to Davis, 
but the principal one was Professor Goar, the head of the 
Arkansas Law School. In nearly every county where a con- 
vention had been held, the instructions had been given in favor 
of Professor Goar, and his nomination was considered a fore- 
gone conclusion. 

While addressing a meeting of voters in Madison County 
he suddenly fell dead, and by this sad and sudden event the 
political history of Arkansas for the intervening years has 
been cast on lines that could never before have been dreamed 
of as a possibiUty. After the death of Professor Goar, the 
tide of political favor began to turn to Senator Davis, so that 
when the convention assembled he had a majority of 1 vote 
over all of his competitors, and was nominated on the first 
ballot. It is part of the history of that struggle that when the 
tide of popular favor seemed to be running so strongly in 
the direction of Professor Goar, Senator Davis, realizing his 
probable defeat, had begun to mature his plans to transfer 
his residence to the State of Oklahoma. But all this was 
changed by his election as Attorney General. From that time 
forward began a long career as spectacular and turbulent as 
that of any man who ever sought public office and political 
control during a period of peace and in a civilized Common- 
wealth. Directly upon his entering the Attorney General's 
office the_ Legislature passed an act intended to suppress the 
depredations of the commercial trusts in so far as their con- 
spiracies contemplated impositions upon the people of the 
State of Arkansas. 

A conflict as to the proper interpretation of this act in its 
application to insurance companies immediately arose, and 
the new Attorney General construed the statute to mean the 
absolute exclusion of all such companies from the right to do 
business in Arkansas if they were associated in any part of 
the world with any group of companies having a common pur- 
pose to control rates. This attitude was sharply antagonized 
by the friends of the insurance companies, and out of this 
difference of opinion came a pivotal opportunity which he had 
the ingenuity to seize and develop into a volume of protests 
against the monopoly that proved sufficient to land him in the 
Governor's office two years later. It is no disparagement to 
Senator Davis to say that two years before these events 
occurred no one would have ventured the prediction that such 
a selection was a political possibility. His election to the 
governorship literally wrecked all the organized political 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 231 

plans and systems that had grown up in the State for half a 
century. The resulting demoralization and revolution in the 
administration of public affairs was no surprise to those who 
knew the real extent of the wreck and ruin wrought upon the 
established order thereby. His stay of six years in the Gov- 
ernor's ofiice was from the very first day to the last a period 
of audacious activity and a constant warfare upon all the old 
arrangements and political traditions of the State. As Gov- 
ernor he was called upon to make a great many appointments 
to important public offices. He invariably chose those who 
might not have expected promotion under the old regime. It 
is complimentary to the general intelligence and learning of 
the citizenship of the State that notwithstanding his ap- 
pointees were chosen from among persons who would not in 
the regular course be mentioned in connection with the offices 
they were called upon by him to fill that they invariably 
''made good" and vindicated in nearly every instance the 
sound judgment which he exercised when he seemed to depart 
from the course marked out by the policy of political heredity. 
Ingratitude is a very human quality, and it is so freely exer- 
cised in the ordinary affairs of men that whilst it is always 
hated it is never regarded as a stranger and rarely excites 
surprise. 

It is complimentary to the sense of appreciation and fidelity 
of the hosts that he called around him as volunteers serving 
the purposes of a carefully created, systematically organized, 
and specially favored "machine" that he was rarely the vic- 
tim of ingratitude, and those of us who witnessed the 200 or 
more beneficiaries of his favor as they sorrowfully walked 
behind the hearse that bore his lifeless body to the grave felt 
that he had contrived according to a deeper philosophy and a 
sounder estimate of humanity than many of us suspected when 
he called around him that body of partisans whom he delighted 
to call the ' ' Old Guard. ' ' The Tenth Legion never established 
its claim to unswerving fidelity and courage by more unmis- 
takable evidence than did this band of loyal and honored 
citizens. 

Shortly after Senator Davis entered upon the discharge of 
the duties of the governorship he developed a desire to extend 
his political career to the Senate, and he accordingly began to 
lay his plans and to develop issues with this end in view. He 
invited strife in certain quarters in order to furnish him with 
an issue that he could successfully attack and thereby intern- 



232 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

sify the partisanship of his friends and account for the ex- 
pressed hatred of his enemies. 

The essential facts evolved from even a casual study of his 
methods are that he never permitted any one to become a 
half-hearted friend nor a concaled enemy. He early realized 
that half-otfended friends might sooner or later hnd them- 
selves in a position where they could do him more injury by 
encouraging the warfare of his enemies indirectly than they 
could as part of the open opposition. Therefore, he never 
'*fell out" halfw^ay with any one. He knew that in politics 
the relationship between individuals is one for the advance- 
ment of mutual interests, and that such friendships too often 
endure only so long as mutual rewards bind the coalition. It 
is doubtless true that many real friendships grow out of the 
business of politics, but the general course is as he under- 
stood it. He frequently found, in making his calculations for 
future pohtical contingencies, that it would better serve his 
purpose to force a realignment than be burdened with a 
possible mutiny of some vital part of his combination at a 
more critical stage of the conflict. 

Thus it happened that at different periods of his political 
career that the same persons were his enemies and friends 
alternately. When he once accepted a reconciliation with a 
former enemy he so dealt with him as to convince him that no 
resentment growing out of past differences remained, and 
when one of his friends or allies was forced to take up service 
on the other side he generally ridiculed him, less frequently 
denounced him, into a state of complete harmlessness. Of 
course, this process could only last as long as he had physical 
strength and time to go among his fellows and by his personal 
presence keep them inspired with the sentiments and hostili- 
ties of the hour, and to thus communicate to them the fighting 
spirit of the occasion that only one with his magnetic qualities 
when aroused could impart. His chief political asset was his 
power as a stump speaker. In the exercise of this art he 
exhibited the qualities of a master to a degree that put Mm in 
a class to himself. He was not a widely learned man, nor did 
he desire to be. He was not willing to devote the time and 
self-denial involved in acquiring familiarity with the views 
and methods of those who had gone before. He absorbed 
enough out of the general intelligence of the country to be 
fairly familiar with many of the leading questions of the day 
and could discuss them before an audience wdth a sufficient 
show of knowledge to impart all the lessons that they seemed 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVJS 233 

willing to absorb. He never concerned himself about master- 
ing in full scope and detail great and absorbing questions, 
since he felt that he could only make use of such aspects of it 
as his auditors were willing and desirous of understanding, 
and that he was therefore engaged in a wholly unprofitable 
service when he talked over the heads of those who listened 
to him. 

He knew humanity as few people know it. He did not deal 
largely with individuals. In fact, as the methods of practical 
politics are known and practiced he was not a great mixer. 
He did not have an accurate memory for names and faces, 
nor did he seek to make a distinct impression upon particular 
individuals. He stood fairly well with the whole crowd and 
said or did something on every occasion that might be recalled 
in connection with appro\dng comment by nearly eveiy one 
who heard him. If any disagreed with him they were never 
in doubt as to the course they would pursue. He was essen- 
tially a fighter, and by pursuing tactics that aroused every one 
else to the fighting mood he found it easy to enumerate his 
followers and to know his enemies. 

Those who were not for him were against him. There was 
no noncommittal element in the State when he was up for 
election. Whether he studied to a finality the philosophy 
which committed him to this policy, I do not know, but he 
mastered it as supremely as if he had, and practiced it with a 
precision and uniformity that could not have been excelled, 
no matter how closely he might have considered it. To an 
ordinary campaigner this is a dangerous course, and all that 
was needed to make it a fatal course was sufficient time, be- 
cause it is as true in politics as in other lines of effort that 
friends fall away from one's standard more rapidly than his 
enemies forgive him. Napoleon was never more successful 
in turning the assaults of an enemy in war than he was in 
minimizing to nothingness the assaults of his enemies in 
politics, and mainly by the power of ridicule and denunciation. 
He never courted sympathy, because it was certain that his 
enemies would never extend it, and his friends were bound 
to him by more virile and enduring forces. 

Probably much of his success as a popular leader was due 
to the fact that he came into political prominence at a time 
when there existed a widespread and deep-seated belief in 
the public mind that the powers of the Government were being 
exerted unfairly in favor of the few and against the interests 
of the many. The unequal distribution of the wealth and 



234 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

favors of the land were a monumental and simple object lesson 
that called for an explanation and invited an attempt to apply 
a remedy. He capitalized this spirit of unrest because he did 
not seem to understand the situation differently from the 
people generally. In fact, it was not necessary to understand 
the underlying philosophy of the cause of it. The fact itself 
was sufficient to demand a thorough investigation and the 
application of a remedy, even if fundamentals must be modi- 
fied in order to prevent a continuance of these conditions. He 
therefore took as his text the actual inequalities of the. situa- 
tion, the existence of which all seemed to be aware, and from 
the effects of which nearly every one was easily made to un- 
derstand he was a victim. Many who heard him did not care 
so much for the feasibility of any suggested remedy as they 
did to have voice given to their conscious dissatisfaction. He 
supplied this, and in full measure, and was thus relieved from 
working out his political advancement by the slower process 
of less-gifted aspirants. 

I happen to know that he was not satisfied mth his career 
in the Senate. He accounted for that in many ways, and 
always promised himself that with more favorable conditions 
he would be able to place his services here upon a higher plane 
of achievement in the future. When he first appeared in the 
Senate he was smarting under the resentment of wholesale 
and unwarranted attacks that had been made upon him, and 
a sort of retaliation seemed to linger with him and to some- 
what direct and control his actions and expressions. Long 
separation from his professional activities and a constant and 
larare outlay incident to an almost constant necessity for cam- 
paisning had drawn heavily upon his none too large estate, 
so that after he entered the Senate he found it necessarv to 
devote much of his time to the paramount oblis-ations of his 
familv. His attention was therefore largely withdrawn from 
his official duties, and his enforced absence from the Senate 
thus prevented him from becoming familiar with that routine 
wh]Vh is so essential to effective work here. When taunted 
by his opponents because of the modest extent of his achieve- 
ments here, he found no difficulty in parrying a thrust which 
must have proven dangerous to almost any other candidate. 
He replied that when he came to the Senate he found it gov- 
erned by traditions and customs that prevented proper recog- 
nition of the voice of the people, because its deliberations 
were dominated by standpatters and reactionaries. Democrats 
and Republicans alike, and that at the outset of his career 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 235 

he conceived it to be his highest duty to aid in creating a 
pubhc opinion that would cause the people to replace these 
customs with those which would make more largely for inde- 
pendence, and its membership a keener appreciation of what 
the people were entitled to, and a firmer determination to 
achieve it for them. He enlarged upon this idea extensively 
and presented it most attractively. 

It was evident to those who were more intimately ac- 
quainted with his real opimon that he knew as well as any one 
else could know that his frequent and long-continued absences 
were interfering with the efliciency of his service here. He 
readily admitted as much before the last JState convention, 
which declared his nomination for a second term, when he 
said that he was most gratified to be able to say that his busi- 
ness affairs were now in such condition that he could promise 
a more constant service in Washington, but no more loyal or 
devoted one. He said it was his purpose to take upon himself 
the task of mastering some of the current problems of the 
day, and he hoped to make himself useful in evolving and 
applying remedies of a substantial character. His assurance 
was most gratifying to his friends and followers, who found 
more difdculty than he did in causing his first explanation to 
be accepted. In the latter days of his fife I found him more 
disposed to diligently investigate affairs of larger import than 
in former days, and I noticed an increasing absence of that 
intemperate form of expression which usually characterized 
his comment on ofdcial matters. I w^as much impressed with 
the befief that it was his fixed purpose to achieve a name here 
that would be creditable to him, and he knew aff'airs of this 
fife well enough to know that he could only do this by the 
severest toil and the closest application to his duties. This 
change of attitude toward the service here was most grati- 
fying to me, and encouraged the befief that if he should mar- 
shal into a coherent force the great qualities of energy, mag- 
netism, and sincerity which he possessed and devote this com- 
bination to the achievement of the substantial things in which 
his people were interested his task would be easily and cred- 
itably performed. 

There are multitudes who believe that he died too soon to 
afford an opportunity for a proper estimate of his real capac- 
ity and real purposes. His enemies befieved him to be a mere 
self-seeking demagogue, who would not scruple to take advan- 
tage of any want of information or misinformation of his 
followers to advance his own political fortunes, while a larger 



236 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

number of devoted friends reassured themselves with the con- 
viction that he had a real capacity for statesmanship, and 
that after he had achieved a position where his own tenure 
was secure and his apprenticeship ended he would manifest 
the qualities of industry and constructive ability that would 
show him to be a real man among men in managing the affairs 
of the Nation. This question may now never be answered to 
the satisfaction and acceptance of all. I personally knew 
much of him, and I know that his intellectual qualities never 
were understood and appreciated to the extent that they de- 
served. While attracting one class he repelled another, and 
thus he submitted the question of his real ability and worth 
to a jury that may now never render a unanimous verdict. He 
was a greater lawyer than he ever got credit for being, and he 
was a more powerful intellectual force than casual observers 
ever believed to be the case. It is creditable to State pride 
to know that his death has now silenced every criticism, and 
that there is real sorrow throughout the Commonwealth today 
because of the event which we so regretfully commemorate 
today. 

By Mr. Bryan, of Florida. 

Mr. President : Arkansas was generous to Jeff Davis in 
the honors she conferred upon him. He was elected by the peo- 
ple of that State prosecuting attorney for two terms. Attorney 
General for one term. Governor three times in succession, 
and United States Senator twice in succession. He was in 
public life twenty years, held the highest offices within the gift 
of the people of a great State, and died at the early age of 
fifty years. The bare recital of these achievements proclaim 
him a remarkable man. 

It is not by accident that a public man wins and retains 
public confidence and respect for so long a time in the great 
offices of Governor and United States Senator. The white 
light of publicity is thrown upon the record as it is written, 
and there will always be found those who are ready to take 
advantage of every opportunity to criticize adversely and to 
condemn. 

Senator Davis did not attain his success hj default. He 
met and overcame opposition, sometimes of the fiercest, at 
every stage of his career. He had to fight his way. 

We all of us have our faults. Jeff Davis had his. I am 
sure he would not have us pretend otherwise for him. More- 
over, men were not slow to call attention to these faults while 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 237 

he lived. He had his loyal friends and supporters, who would 
not believe anything except good of him, and he had also his 
bitter enemies. He reciprocated in kind the feehngs of each, 
with all the fervor of a strong, dominant, uncompromising 
nature. He asked no quarter and he gave none. He never 
surrendered to any foe save death — the great conqueror of 
us all. 

The sudden ending of his earthly career seemed to draw 
closer to him the friends of a lifetime, and also to eradicate 
altogether the small and unimportant differences that had 
existed between him and those who had opposed him. 

It was my privilege to attend his funeral. I saw Ms loyal 
friends from every part of the State, and was impressed by 
the unusual circumstance that a large number of them 
marched in a body to his last resting place. I inquired of 
some of those whom I met, to ascertain the secret of the suc- 
cess of this interesting man, and from the information thus 
gathered, I attribute his success — 

First, to his unselfish fight for his party in the days when 
both the great pohtical parties were strong contenders in his 
State for public favor, and 

Second, to the claim, which seems well founded, that he 
always remained loyal to his friends, who beheved that in him 
they had not only an able but a courageous leader. 

By Mr. Ashurst, of Arizona. 

Mr. President: In obedience to a generous impulse of the 
human heart, the Senate of the United States, in the midst of 
its labors, at the closing hours of Congress, when every mo- 
ment of time is precious, pauses to pay tribute to the memory 
of another of its deceased members, and to contemplate what 
has always been regarded as the most profound of life 's mys- 
teries — the mystery of death and the grave. At the grave 
Alexander left his worlds unconquered, and the rich man 
parted with his gold. At the grave Mozart apparently gave 
up his music. Lord Bacon forgot his learning, and Sir Isaac 
Newton abandoned philosophy and mathematics ; at the grave 
friend is unlocked from the arm of friend and seemingly is 
thrust into everlasting and pulseless silence where ambition 
can no longer inspire nor glory thrill. During the Sixty-sec- 
ond Congress the greedy grave, whose ponderous jaws are 
never filled, removed from the Senate six Senators and its 
honored and beloved presiding officer, the Vice President of 



238 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



the United States. Indeed, Mr. President, it is startling to 
realize that such a large percentage of Senators die in service. 

From that memorable day— Monday, April 6, 1789, when 
Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, appeared and took his seat 
and thus formed a quorum of the whole Senators of the 
United States for the lirst meeting of the Senate — down to 
this date eleven hundred men have been elected to membership 
in this body, and out of this roster 149 of them, or 13 6/11 per 
cent of the whole number elected to membership, died while in 
service, Senator Jeff Davis, of Arkansas, being the hundred 
and forty-ninth Senator to die in service. This hst of eleven 
hundred men elected to membership in this body contains the 
names of strong men and weak men; the names of philoso- 
phers, philanthropists, and constructive statesmen; contem- 
plative thinkers whose classic features have been preserved to 
us by the sculptor and the portrait painter ; men wearing the 
bloody gauntlets of war; men wearing soft gloves of peace; 
men who opened and closed the purse of the Nation as they 
saw fit ; men whose inelegant ostentation caused them to use 
their enormous wealth unwisely and unbecomingly ; the names 
of sturdy farmers from New England 's rock-bound coast ; men 
fresh from the farms of the Middle States ; planters from the 
Southern States; argonauts, ranchers, miners, cowboys, and 
Indian fighters from the Western States; orators who pos- 
sessed, as was said of Mirabeau, * ' a tongue of fire steeped in 
honey;" the names of physicians who annihilate pain, who 
minister to the ills to which human flesh is subject, and who 
''charm ache with air and agony with ether;" historians, 
scholars, divines, and captains of industry; in fact, men of 
every creed, occu^.ation, profession, and calling ; men of valor, 
honor, and impeiishable renown; men who, step after step, by 
honorable public service, have raised themselves from the 
ground floor of log cabins to the highest eminence of human 
distinction, and a remarkably small percentage of men who, 
during or after service here, so misbehaved themselves that 
they blighted their greatness and fame. 

Contemplating this long list of men, it is not excessive 
eulogy to say that history will record Jeff Davis, of Arkansas, 
as one of the strong and striking characters that have come to 
this body. He was a faithful friend and a faithful enemy ; at 
times in his fife scorn and contumely were heaped upon Mm, 
but he always returned war for war, blow for blow, and scorn 
for scorn. He was ''lofty and sour to those who loved him 
not; but to those who sought him, sweet as summer." He 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 239 



had, or affected to have, a profound indifference as to whether 
other men liked him. To his opponents he always presented 
defiant belligerency or supercilious disdain, but through the 
cracks of the rough veneer of this man there was to be seen 
and felt a warm, honest, and loyal heart. He was an inveter- 
ate foe to what he conceived to be shams, frivohties, and frills. 

I said a moment ago that he was a strong man. Mr. Pres- 
ident, no person could have been victorious in so many con- 
flicts as was Jeff Davis and have attached to himself so many 
ardent and loyal friends unless he were indeed a very strong 
man. His friends clung to him mth a beautiful fidelity, and 
neither time, nor change, nor false report could alienate their 
affections. He understood and appreciated perfectly the 
wants and desires of poor people. He was familiar with the 
disappointments of their daily life ; he knew their broken am- 
bitions. He knew the high and too frequently the baffled hopes 
of those who moil and toil ; he was the especial advocate and 
friend of those men who, uncomplainingly, from day to day, 
met danger upon the trains, in the mines, and in the work- 
shops, and it is recorded that in every lawsuit in which he 
took part he was invariably on the side of those who most 
needed help and mercy and to whom life, like the shirt of 
Nessus, the longer worn the more deeply it chafed the raw 
flesh and naked nerve. The accomplishment of these things 
writes Jeff Da\ns down as a strong man. 

On the night of the 2d of January of this year he was seized 
by the sudden return of a disorder which had clamped itself 
about his heart some months previously. He called for his 
son to send for a physician, but before the physician could 
arrive Jeff Davis took his seat in the parliament of the skies. 

By Mr. Martine, of New Jersey. 

Mr. President : Jeff Davis was a great splendid specimen 
of manhood. My acquaintance mth him was of but short 
duration. We seemed, however, during the little time we 
knew each other, to rub one another the right way from the 
very first we met, and hence each day with him to me was a 
day of delight and pleasantness. Jeff Davis, blessed with a 
splendid physique and strong personality, seemed to be a man 
who might reach a record of fourscore years and ten. We 
were congenial friends at once ; his frankness and candor cap- 
tivated me. 

Twice during our acquaintance he said to me, however, when 
I mentioned his seemingly good health, "I am not altogether 



240 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

myself, Martine ; I am not well. While I can not leave to my 
family great wealth, I mean to leave them the history of an 
honest man;" and, as God knows, I believe he did. 

I feel that the best gauge, Mr. President, of a man is the 
opinion of his fellow citizens. As one of a delegation ap- 
pointed by the President of this body to attend his funeral, we 
went on our sad mission, and as we reached the beautiful city 
of Little Rock, Ark., his home, sadness seemed to pervade the 
people on all sides ; flags were at half-mast, and gloom seemed 
eveiywhere apparent. 

Does some one say that Jeff Davis was bluff and blunt, dif- 
ferent from others? Yes, in a way he was, but has not the 
great God of the universe in His wisdom made different 
shades in the foliage of a forest, yet all blending in a har- 
monious hue, all most pleasing to the eye? And so, even 
though Jeff Davis God had molded and characterized in a dif- 
ferent way, yet Jeff Davis, broad, generous, liberal-hearted, 
and kind, was a splendid specimen of his Maker, an honest 
man. 

On all sides as we wandered around the streets of that beau- 
tiful city we would hear knots of men and see a gathering of 
tearful women all bewailing the loss of their splendid fellow 
citizen, Jeff Davis. Rich and poor, white and black, all gath- 
ered in the tearful cortege to do his memory honor. 

I feel, my friends, that as the day went by and as the sun 
went down all humanity seemed to testify that there had been 
laid awa}^ a loyal friend, a true husband, a loving father, a 
patriot, and a statesman. 

By Me. Kavanaugh, of Arkansas. 

Mr. President : It is not simply a perfunctory compliance 
wdth an established custom that I ask the indulgence of the 
Senate for a few minutes, but a desire upon my part to deliver 
in these Halls, where he served with distinction, a tribute to 
the memory of my friend the late Senator Jeff Da\is. 

He was my personal and political friend for a period of 
almost a quarter of a century. Our friendship began before 
he had been drawn into the maelstrom of political life, where 
he gained his greatest achievements, and before I had been 
chained to the treadmill of business. During all this time the 
bonds of friendship had grown stronger and stronger, and as 
time rolled on I learned to love and appreciate the many good 
qualities of my friend whose loss we mourn tonight. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 241 

Senator Davis was born in 1862 midst the strife of that 
fratricidal conflict which came so near wrecking this Nation. 
It has been suggested that the spirit of the times impressed 
itself upon his nature, which, after lying dormant through the 
period of childhood and boyhood, asserted itself as soon as 
he entered public life. The only offspring of indulgent parents, 
he was given every advantage which his surroundings and the 
circumstances would permit. We find him, while yet a j^outh, 
admitted to the bar and to membership in the law firm of 
which his honored father was the senior partner. He soon 
became interested in politics, and from the time he entered 
the arena until the moment of his untimely death he was the 
"stormy petrel" of Arkansas public life. During his political 
career he overturned time-honored precedents, ignored cher- 
ished and sacred traditions, and ruthlessly shattered the po- 
litical alignments of a half century, and for what? His ene- 
mies said he did all of these things to gratify an inordinate 
and selfish ambition. He and his friends said he was actuated 
only by a desire to serve the great common people, whose 
champion he was, and to restore the affairs of government to 
the simplicity and democracy of the forefathers. As citizen, 
attorney, and statesman, his every act and utterance was in 
behalf of those whom he termed "the under dogs in the battle 
of life." 

In passing an eulogy upon his life at the grave a noted jurist 
of his native State said : 

He was not very well suited to try a cause for a rich citizen against a 
common citizen * * * . His feeling and sympathies were intensely 
human. 

He held successively the offices of prosecuting attorney of 
his district. Attorney General and Governor of his State, and 
United States Senator. The secret of his great political suc- 
cess was that he never allowed himself to be placed on the 
defensive. He was so resourceful in maneuvering that he al- 
ways found — and if he could not find it he made it — an open- 
ing for attack upon his adversary, and once the attack was 
begun he pursued it aggressively, fearlessly, and, his enemies 
said, ruthlessly. As an illustration of his boldness in political 
matters. I have known him while engaged in a contest to advo- 
cate on the stump the cause of another who was a candidate 
for a different office, or, upon the other hand, to assail another 
who was a candidate for a different office, when he deemed the 
man unworthy or that he was advocating a cause which Sen- 
ator Davis did not approve. It may well be ima.gined that this 
brought down upon his head the maledictions of many people 



242 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

who might otherwise have not enrolled themselves among his 
enemies. Despite such daring actions his onward march to 
success was never interrupted. 

His friends fairly idolized him and with one accord indorsed 
his policies and actions. His enemies denounced him as a 
demagogue and a disturber, a destroyer of reputations. It 
has been said that he was the most beloved man, and, at the 
same time, the worst hated man in all Arkansas, but after all 
the denunciations have been summed up, his worst enemy 
has never accused him of dishonesty or corruption. In fact, 
his bitterest enemies, while railing at his successes and de- 
nouncing his methods, admitted the sincerity of his purpose 
and his devotion to principle. One of his most unrelenting 
critics was another friend of mine who succeeded by appoint- 
ment to the vacancy caused by the death of Senator Davis. He 
is the editor of a great newspaper, the oldest, I believe, pub- 
lished west of the Mississippi River. In his newspaper, on the 
31st day of March of last year, he said : 

In his race for a second term in the United States Senate, Senator Jeff 
Davis has again shown his consummate sltill in the pleading of his political 
cause before the jury of the people. Former Congressman Stephen Brundidge 
has fought a great fight — and at this writing has not made admission of 
defeat — in contest with the man against whom no foeman has been able to 
prevail these years he has held one high office after another. Jeff Davis is, 
in fact, one of the most remarkable campaigners and one of the most suc- 
cessful popular advocates American politics has produced. He puts his hand 
in the public hand and gives it a grip that makes a firm and feeling bond 
between. Thousands of people, men and women, look on him as their 
champion, their guardian, their safety, and their hope. He makes his wounds 
and injuries theirs, and they would avenge them as they would their own. 

Thus, you see, those who opposed him realized his elements 
of strength. He was wont to say: *'My friends are always 
right to me." And he expected his friends to reciprocate that 
feeling to the extent of its complete acceptance. He despised 
hypocrisy, he eschewed formality, and democratic simplicity 
marked the entire conduct of his life. This was the side of 
the life of Senator Davis which was presented to the public, 
and in presenting it I have stated it candidly and correctly as 
I have seen it. As I have said before, we were friends and 
neighbors. 

Our associations lay along widely divergent lines and our 
opinions of matters and men were often far apart, but each 
respected the opinion of the other and we were always able, 
after a thorough discussion, to reach an understanding which 
in no wise affected our friedship, and it is as such a friend I 
speak today. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 243 

But, Mr. President, there is another side of the life of Sen- 
ator Davis I desire to present, and that is the best and the 
most beautiful — his home life. No man ever lived who en- 
joyed a more ideal home life than he. He was twice married. 
His first marriage was to Miss Ina McKenzie and to them 
were born twelve children, eight of whom hve to bless and 
honor the names of the parents who gave them birth. There 
was no service Senator Davis would not perform; there was 
no sacrifice that he could not make that would add to the 
pleasure or comfort of his family. He saw to it that his 
children were given every educational and social advantage 
that would enable them to make of themselves useful men and 
women, and today there are no brighter, sweeter, gentler 
young men or women, boys or girls, in the city of Little Rock 
than the children of Senator Davis. His first wife was one of 
the noblest women it has been my good fortune to know. Sen- 
ator Davis fairly idolized her and was often heard to say he 
owed everything he was to her. His second marriage to Miss 
Leila Carter was no less happy. She entered into the spirit 
of his ambitions and assisted in his duties as only a devoted 
helpmate can do and today in their home in the city of Little 
Eock, she, the bride of a year, and the children of her husband 
and the aged mother of our departed friend, mingle their tears 
and sorrows together while trying to fathom the mysteries of 
fate that has taken from them their protector at the hour 
when he was most needed, comforted only by the thoughts 
that He does all things for the best — mil care for them and so 
guide their lives that there will be a happy reunion beyond. 

And now, Mr. President, may we not unite in saying: A 
chieftain has fallen, peace to his ashes, all honor to his 
memory ! 



244 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

IN THE HOUSE. 
Address of Mr. Oldfield, of Arkansas. 

Mr. Speaker: On this occassion we are assembled for the 
purpose of paying tribute to the life, character, and public 
service of the Hon. Jeff Davis, late a Senator from the State 
of Arkansas. Mr. Speaker, this is to me a sad, a solemn occa- 
sion, for Senator Davis was my personal and political friend. 

Senator Davis was born in Little River County, Arkansas, 
May 6, 1862, w^as educated in the public schools and the uni- 
versity of his State. He was admitted to the bar at the early 
age of 19 years. Wliile a successful practitioner of the law, 
as a great many young lawyers do, especially those who live 
in small cities and towns, he entered politics early in life and 
was elected prosecuting attorney of his circuit in 1892 at the 
age of 30 years. He was re-elected to this orhce, and it is said 
of him that he made one of the ablest prosecuting attorneys 
his circuit ever had. 

Senator Davis entered State poltics at a time when some 
of the brainiest men Arkansas has produced were in power. 
However, he brooked no obstacle and pressed forward to at- 
tain the goal of his ambition. He w^as bold and aggressive 
and immediately became the dominating figure in the politics 
of his State. 

Mr. Speaker, if I were called upon to indicate the trait of 
character most developed in Senator Davis, I would unhesi- 
tatingly say it was his determination to succeed in his under- 
takings — his will power. 

There is no chance, no destiny, no fate 

Can circumvent, or hinder, or control 

The firm resolve of a determined soul. 

Gifts count for nothing, 

Will alone is great. 

All things must give way 

Before it soon or late. 

What obstacles can stay the mighty force 

Of the sea-seeking river in its course. 

Or cause the ascending Orb of Day to wait? 

Each well-born soul must win what it deserves. 

Let the fool prate of luck, the fortunate is 

He whose earnest purpose never swerves. 

Whose slightest action or inaction 

Serves the one great aim. Why, 

Even Death stands still 

And waits an hour, sometimes. 

For such a will. 

In 1898, at the age of 36 years, Mr. Davis was elected At- 
torney General of the State of Arkansas, and at the age of 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 245 

38 years was elected Governor of his State, and to this office 
he was twice re-elected, being the only man to serve our State 
three times as Governor, and in passing, it may be said that 
his last contest for the Governorship was the fiercest and most 
terrific political battle ever waged in Arkansas. In 1906 Gov- 
ernor Davis was nominated by the Democratic party of his 
State for the office of United States Senator, defeating former 
Senator Berry — a distinguished veteran both of peace and 
war, one whom the people of Arkansas had rejoiced to honor 
— and was elected by the Legislature of 1907. He was renom- 
inated in 1912, but before the Legislature convened to carry 
out the will of the people and re-elect him, after answering 
to the roll call of the Senate for nearly six years, he was sud- 
denly summoned by the roll call of eternity. Senator Davis 
served nearly six years in the United States Senate, and I 
have never heard any man in Arkansas criticise a single vote 
he cast in that body. He was a strong man before the people, 
and he always took liis fights directly to them. His idea of 
government was that the people should rule. He thought the 
best government was the one closest to the people, and his 
battles were always for the purpose of bringing the people 
and the Government closer together. 

Senator Davis was without doubt the most resourceful cam- 
paigner the State of Arkansas has seen. He was effective 
before his audiences, because he took the people into his con- 
fidence and appealed to the masses for support, and, as evi- 
denced by his remarkable career, his appeals were not made 
in vain. To his friends he was true and loyal, as true as the 
stars to their appointed courses. He never forsook a friend 
or forgot a favor, and his loyalty to his friends was one of 
his great sources of strength. In his campaigns he was wont 
to refer to his friends as the ''Old Guard," and w^hen he 
sounded the call for battle the Old Guard was always ready 
for the fray, and when the ballots were counted they invari- 
ably showed that the "Old Guard" had stood firm and Jeff 
Davis had won. 

Senator Davis w^as not one of those who went with the cur- 
rent, but, on the contrary, he spoke out boldly the things he 
believed and the policies he advocated. If he was for or 
against a proposition of policy or legislation, he boldly told 
the people and gave them his reasons. In his career as Gov- 
ernor and Senator he always championed the side of the plain 
citizen instead of the special interests. His career, indeed, 
lends hope and encouragement to those who depend upon the 



246 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 

support of the people instead of relying upon the agents of 
predatory wealth. It is an inspiration to the youth of the 
land who, without wealth, powerful friends, or family, must 
depend upon the justice and generosity of their countrymen. 

In campaigns Senator Davis was his own manager, and I 
have been told by some of his close political advisers that he 
had an intuition which seemed almost marvelous. His com- 
binations often appeared impossible and his plans imprac- 
ticable, but under his leadership and in his hands simplicity 
marked their development and success vindicated their 
adoption. 

Mr. Speaker, death is the great leveler. 

In the democracy of the dead all men at least are equal. 

There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the 
grave. 

At this fatal threshold the philosopher ceases to be wise, and the song 
of the poet is silent. 

Dives relinquishes his millions and Lazarus his rags. 

The poor man is as rich as the richest, and the rich man is as poor as 
the pauper. 

The creditor loses his usury, and the debtor is acquitted of his obligations. 

There the proud man surrenders his dignity, the politician his honors, the 
worldling his pleasures; the invalid needs no physician, and the laborer rests 
from unrequited toil. 

Here, at last, is nature's final decree in equity. 

The wrongs of time are redeemed; injustice is expatiated; the irony of 
fate is refuted; the unequal distribution of wealth, honor, capacity, pleasure, 
and opportunity, which make life such a cruel and inexplicable tragedy, 
ceases in the realm of death. 

The strongest has no supremacy, and the weakest needs no defense. 

The mightiest captain succumbs to that invincible adversary who disarms 
alike the victor and the vanquished. 

Mr. Speaker, a tribute to the life and character of Senator 
Davis would be incomplete if reference were not made to the 
beauty of his home life. He was a devoted and loving husband, 
a generous and indulgent father, and the tenderness with 
which his family clung around him and to him marked the 
depth of their love and affection. 

The Speaker at this point resumed the chair. 

Address of Mr. Jacoway, of Arkansas. 

Mr. Speaker : Of all the sweet and sacred ceremonies that 
precedent has established in this body, none, I think, is more 
beautiful than the custom of meeting here to do honor to the 
memory of those of our friends and colleagues who have 
fallen before the sickle of the Reaper. This is the oppor- 
tunity and the occasion for the expression of our sentiments 
of love, regard, and appreciation for those who have gone 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 247 

from among us, who have crossed over the river and rest 
under the shade of the trees. 

When, however, I come to the knowledge that it is my sad 
duty and my privilege to address you on the life, the char- 
acter, and the public service of the late lamented Senator 
Davis, the thought that lies uppermost in my mind is the 
realization of the poverty of my own vocabulary, the fact of 
the poverty of all human speech to do aught but to depict in 
barest words the history of this man. Beyond that words are 
but vain and futile. The archives of his State and his Nation 
bear witness to what he has been, but there is no power under 
heaven to gauge what he might have been, and none of us 
can know the work he left unfinished. God has written the 
book. 

Senator Davis was peculiarly a product of Arkansas. Dur- 
ing all the days of his life he was an actual resident of the 
State. Born in Little River County May 6, 1862, in the early 
days of that grim cycle of American history, when the plow- 
share was left to rust in the furrow while brother strove with 
brother in bloody conflict, his boyhood was not greatly dif- 
ferent from that of the other youths of the period. A simple 
country lad, he went his way about his boyish tasks uncom- 
prehending, I dare say, the distress and the disaster that the 
war had laid upon his country, and perhaps but dreaming 
only in the vague and unformed way of childhood of the 
measure of greatness that some day was to be given him. 

But after the inscrutable manner of fate, he was early 
stamped as a favorite child of fortune, and it was decreed that 
the simple and honest love that he bore for the Commonwealth 
should some day be paid back to him until his name was a 
household word from hovel to hall, that he should hold a place 
in the hearts of his people second to none and a position in 
the council chamber of his Nation. 

The genesis of his political career dates from his admission 
to the bar when but a boy of 19 years. Eleven years later he 
was elected prosecuting attorney of the Fifth Judicial District 
of Arkansas, comprising the counties of Conway, Johnson, 
Pope and Yell. Thence his career was a triumphant march 
onward. Measuring legal lances with one of the most able 
and astute bars of the whole State in daily warfare, his early 
training equipped him well for the high honors that were to 
follow. Four years later he became the Attorney General of 
the State, and in 1901 he was made Chief Executive. He was 
re-elected in 1903 and again in 1905, establishing a record that 



248 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



has never been equaled before or since. Had his political 
career ended here, after this chain of unbroken successes, it 
might have been sufficient for the average man's ambition, 
but above and beyond was the ultimate goal. Its attainment 
seemed to be the inevitable end of his pohtical policy— to 
bring nearer and dearer to him his friends, to stretch out his 
magnetic hand to others, until all vie with each other to 
search the gardens of their affection for flowers to weave into 
wreaths with which to crown him. On February 27, 1907, he 
was elected to the Senate of the United States, servdng his 
first term, mth the exception of a few days. Had he lived he 
would have succeeded himself in January of the present year. 
AVhether in the trial of causes in the court room or in the 
feverish campaigns that marked the hotly contested battles 
he waged for pohtical supremacy, he was known as a fighter, 
nor does history produce a general who laid his plans or 
adapted his tactics to the need of the hour with a skill more 
consummate than his. As a campaigner few knew human na- 
ture better than he, and as a public speaker he possessed an 
invincible potency, and few could gauge an audience with an 
accuracy more unerring than he. Politically he created his 
own sentiment and asked no man to go where he himself 
would not lead. A master in the art of invective and satire, 
it perhaps may be that he was sometimes severely caustic, but 
friend and foe alike admitted his power. 

Born,^ as it were, in battle, even as the fragrance of the 
flowers in his early boyhood was blent with the acrid odor of 
burnt powder, so in later years the flowers of friendship that 
grew along the pathway of his career mingled their odor with 
the scent of hot fights for power and place. The early years 
found him a wondering boy, often pausing, perhaps, to listen 
to the dull, dead boom of cannon ; and the later years find him 
a strong man, girt for the battle, a leader and' a chief. The 
secrets of warfare were his, oftentimes the wounds and the 
hurt ; but life had been lavish with its laurels, and even in the 
thickest, hottest of his campaigns he was spurred and inspired 
by the memory of other hard fights fought and won, and the 
knowledge of the multitude, the common people, if you will, 
who looked on him as their champion and whose prayer was 
that their leader could not fail them. 

Such was his public life. That he was loved by those whose 
trust he had, whose leader he was, the great concourse of 
people, 15,000 strong, who stood at his open grave testifies. 
From the home of his boyhood they came, from the field and 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 249 



the forum, near and far. Among them stood a coterie of the 
Nation's most distinguished statesmen, the emissaries of his 
Government, who had journeyed thousands of miles to do him 
honor, and all listened with baied heads to the rites that con- 
signed him to the earth from whence he sprung. 

The love and esteem in which he was held was intensified 
and deepened and broadened in his own home, where he ruled 
as a sovereign, a friend, and a comrade in one ; a kind, a de- 
voted and indulgent father, and a loving husband. Out be- 
neath the stars m Mount Holly Cemetery at Little Rock he 
sleeps beside the Christian wife and devoted mother who went 
before him into the great beyond, while in the hushed home, 
with heartache and heartbreak, the lovely wife prostrated 
with grief, the aged and gentle mother who gave him birth, 
the stalwart sons and the womanly daughters he left, mourn 
his untimely death. 

There is, Mr. Speaker, a consummate tragedy in the death 
such as that which overtook Senator Davis in the prime of his 
life and the full flower of liis career. It was not the muster- 
ing out of the wayworn warrior at the end of the campaign, 
nor the docking of the ship at the home port. It came upon 
him with the stealth of an assassin, striking without warning 
and without mercy, unheralded and unanticipated. A moment 
he stood, a strong man in the pride of Ufe, and then he fell. 
Like that mysterious realm that lies beyond the frontier of 
life, so also are the ways of death and its manner of coming 
beyond the powder of human mind to compass. Some die in the 
dawn of life, in that sweet world that is peopled only by loved 
ones, and knows no rule but a mother's loving guidance; and 
some go out with the t^dlight, with the knowledge that life 
could hold no more. But Senator Davis died at the noontime 
of his Hfe, a strong man full of force and power, a sachem in 
the council. Some one has written : 

Yet after all, it may be best, just in the sunniest, happiest hour of all the 
voyage, while eager winds are kissing every sail, to dash against the unseen 
rock, and in an instant hear the billows roar above a sunken ship. For 
whether in mid-sea or 'mong the breakers of the farther shore a wreck at 
last must mark the end of each and all. 

Mr. Speaker, for us all Time is beating funeral marches to 
the tomb, and "neither wealth nor station nor prerogative" 
can stay the coming of our dissolution. In death there ever 
remains an unfathomed, unknowable mystery and a philoso- 
phy that passeth understanding. It is the transition from the 
finite to the infinite, the veiled link between time and eternity. 
We know that yesterday this man was here, high in place and 



250 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



power, loving and beloved — vital with the rich red blood of 
life. We know today that the finger of God has touched him, 
and that he sleeps and is not ; that these halls, or any earthly 
halls will never again shelter his presence or ring v/ith his 
voice; that he has entered into the state that knows no caste 
or class, no place or power. Whether it was for the best I 
can not say. I do not know, nor does any other man. But I 
know that God is, that a deathless force lives on, and that 
long after the moss has grown green on the stone that marks 
his resting place, his name will still be bright on the pages of 
his Nation's history, and his memory deeply embedded in the 
hearts of his countrvmen. 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 251 



APPENDIX. 



A BILL (S. 100) to suppress pools, trusts, and combinations In trade and to 
provide penalties for violations of its provisions, and for other purposes, 
introduced by Mr. Davis, December 4, 1907. 

Be it enacted, etc.. That any corporation organized under the laws of the 
United States of America, or under the laws or authority of any foreign 
country, and transacting or conducting any kind of interstate or inter- 
national business in the United States of America, or any partnership or any 
individual or other association of persons whatsoever, and wherever existing 
or resident, who are now or shall hereafter create, enter into, become a mem- 
ber of or a party to any pool, trust, agreement, combination confederation, 
or understanding, whether the same be made in the United States of 
America or elsewhere, wuh any other corporation, partnership, individual, 
or other person or association of persons, wherever existing or resident, to 
regulate or fix, either in the United States of America or elsewhere, In any 
interstate or international business or transaction, the price of any article 
of manufacture, mechanism, merchandise, commodity, convenience, repair, 
any product of mining or any article or thing whatsoever, the subject of or 
that may be the subject of interstate or international commerce, or who are 
now or shall hereafter enter into, become a member of or a party to any 
pool, agreement, contract, combination, association, or confederation whether 
the same be made in the United States of America or elsewhere to fix or 
limit, in the United States of America or elsewhere in any interstate or inter- 
national manufacture, mechanism, merchandise, commodity, convenience, 
repair, and product of mining, or article or thing whatsoever as aforesaid, 
shall be deemed and adjudged guilty of a conspiracy to defraud and be sub- 
ject to the penalties as provided in this act. 

Sec. 2. That any person, partnership, firm, or association, or any repre- 
sentative or agent thereof, or any corporation or company, or any officer, 
representative, or agent thereof, violating any of the provisions of this act 
shall forfeit not less than $5,000 for every such offense, and each day such 
person, corporation, partnership, or association shall continue to do so shall 
be a separate offense, the penalty in such case to be recovered by an action 
in the name of the United States of America, upon the relation of the 
Attorney General of the United States of America or the district attorney in 
the district of the State where the offense may be committed, the moneys 
thus collected to be applied as ordinary fines and forfeitures as now provided 
by statute; and in addition to such forfeiture any person, representative, or 
agent of any partnership, association, corporation, or company, or any officer 
thereof, within the territory of the said United States, violating the pro- 
visions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall, upon indict- 
ment and conviction, be imprisoned in the Federal jail or penitentiary house 
for a period of not less than five, nor more than twenty-one years; provided, 
that it shall be no defense by any such persons, representative, or agent 
that any such pool, trust, agreement, combination, confederation, or under- 
standing was consummated within a foreign country or In part in such for- 
eign country or countries. 

Sec. 3. That any corporation created or organized by or under the laws 
of the United States of America, or of any State thereof, and transacting 
any kind of interstate or international business which shall violate any of 
the provisions of the preceding sections of this act shall thereafter forfeit 
all rights to do any such interstate or international business, and its cor- 
porate existence, in case of corporations existing under said Federal laws, 
shall, upon proper proof being made in any court of competent jurisdiction 
of the United States of America, be by the court declared forfeited, void, and 
of noneffect, and shall thereupon cease and determine. Any corporation 



252 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



created or organized by or under the laws of any foreign country which shall 
violate any of the provisions of the preceding sections of this act shall forfeit 
its right and privilege to do any kind of business in the United States of 
America, and upon proper prooi being made of such violation in any court 
of competent jurisdiction of the United States of America its right and privi- 
lege to do business Ir the United States of America shall be declared for- 
feited; and in all proceedings to have such forfeiture declared proof that 
any person who has been acting as the agent of such foreign corporation in 
transacting any kind of interstate or international business in the United 
States of America has been, while actmg as such agent and in the name, 
behalf, or interest of such foreign corporation, violating any of the pro- 
visions of the preceding sections of this act, shall be received prima facie the 
act of the corporation itself; and it shall be the duty of the clerk of the 
court in which said proof is made to certify to the proper officer of the 
foreign country or State in which said corporation chartered to do business 
was authorized the facts of said trial and judgment, of which said officer 
shall take notice and be governed thereby as to the corporate powers and 
rights of said corporation in the United States of America. 

Sec. 4. That the sale, delivery, or disposal of any of the articles, com- 
modities, or things hereinbefore mentioned by any individual, company, or 
corporation in transacting any kind of interstate or international business 
contrary to the provisions of this act within the United States of America 
is hereby declared to be unlawful and contrary to public policy, and the pur- 
chaser of any said article, commodity, or thing from any such individual, 
company, or corporation shall not be liable for the price or to pay therefor, 
whether the purchase was made directly from the individual, company, or 
corporation so unlawfully transacting business or indirectly from one who 
acted for such individual, company, or corporation, as agent, representative, 
solicitor, or canvasser; provided, that where any money or other thing of 
value is or shall be paid to such individual, company, or corporation so un- 
lawfully transacting an interstate or international business within the United 
States of America, its agents, representative, solicitor, or canvasser, the per- 
son so paying the same may recover back the amount of the monev or the 
value of the thing so paid by suit in any court of competent jurisdiction in 
the United States. 

Sec. 5. That a monopoly or trust intended to be prohibited by this act is 
any union or combination or consolidation or affiliation of capital, credit, 
property, assets, trade, customs, skill, or acts, or any other valuable thing 
or possession, by or between persons, firms, or corporations, or associations 
of persons, firms, or corporations, whereby any one of the purposes or objects 
mentioned in this act is accomplished or sought to be accomplished, or 
whereby any one or more of said purposes are promoted or attempted to be 
executed or carried out, or whereby the several evil results mentioned herein 
are reasonably calculated to be produced; and a monopoly or trust as thus 
defined and contemplated incluues not merely such combination by and 
between two or more persons, firms, and corporations acting for themselves, 
but is intended to include all aggregations, amalgamations, affiliations, con- 
solidations, or incorporations of capital, skill, credit, assets, property, cus- 
toms, trade, or other valuable thing or possession, whether effected by the 
ordinary methods of partnership or by actual union under the les;al form of 
a corporation, or any incorporated body resulting from the union of one or 
more distinct firms or corporations, or by the purchase, acquisition, or con- 
trol of shares or certificates of stocks or bonds or other corporate property 
or franchises, and all partnerships and corporations that have been or may 
be created by the consolidation or amalgamation of the separate capital, 
stock, bonds, assets, credit, property, customs, trade, corporate or firm belong- 
ings of two or more persons, firms, or corporations or companies are declared 
to constitute monopolies or trusts within the meaning of this act, if so 
created or entered into for any one or more of the purposes named in this 
act; and a monopoly or trust as thus defined in this section is hereby 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 253 



declared to be unlawful and against public policy, and any and all persons, 
firms, corporations, or associations of persons engaged therein shall b« 
deemed and adjudged to be guilty of a conspiracy to defraud and shall be 
subject to the penalties prescribed in this act. 

Sec. 6. That if any person, persons, company, partnership, firm, associa- 
tion, corporation, or agent engaged in the manufacture or sale of any article 
of commerce or consumption in an interstate or international business, pro- 
duced, manufactured, or mined in the United States of America or elsewhere, 
shall, with the intent and purpose of lessening or driving out competition 
or financially injuring competitors engaged in similar business, or shall sell 
at a less price in one section of the United States than in another for the 
purpose of lessening competition or injuring competitors engaged in similar 
business, said persons or persons, company, partnership, association, cor- 
poration, or agent resorting to any such methods of securing a monopoly 
within the United States of America in such business shall be deemed guilty 
of a conspiracy to form or secure a trust or monopoly in restraint of trade, 
and on conviction thereof shall be subject to the penalties of this act. 

Sec. 7. That whenever any proceeding shall be commenced In any court 
of competent jurisdiction in the United States of America, by the Attorney 
General thereof or the district attorney of the district in any State in which 
said offense may be committed, against any corporation or corporations. Indi- 
vidual or individuals or association of individuals, or joint stock associations 
or copartnerships, under this act, for the formation and maintenance of 
pools or trusts of any kind, monopolies or confederations, combinations or 
organizations in restraint of trade, to dissolve the same or to restrain their 
formation or maintenance in the United States of America, or to recover the 
penalties in this act provided, then and in that case, if the Attorney General 
or district attorney as aforesaid desires to take the testimony of any officer, 
director, agent, or employee of any corporation or joint stock association 
proceeded against, or, in case of a copartnership, any of the members of said 
copartnership, or any emplovee thereof, in any court in which said action 
may be pending, and the individual or individuals whose testimony is desired 
resides more than 100 miles from the place of trial, then and in such case 
the Attorney General or district attorney may file in said court in term 
time, or with the judge thereof in vacation, a statement in writing setting 
forth the name or names of the persons or individuals whose testimony he 
desires to take, and the time when and the place where he desires said 
persons to appear: and thereupon the court or judge shall make an order 
for the taking of said testimony of such person or persons and for the pro- 
duction of any books, papers, and documents in his possession or under his 
control relating to the merits of any suit, or to any evidence therein, shall 
appoint a commission for that purpose, who shall be an officer authorized 
by law to take depositions, and said commission shall issue immediately a 
notice In writing directed to the attorney or attorneys of record in said 
cause, or agent or officer or other employee, that the testimony of the person 
named in the application of the Attorney General or district attorney is 
desired, and requesting said attorney or attorneys of record, or said officer, 
agent, or employee to whom said notice is delivered, and upon whom the 
same is served, to have said officer, agent, employee, representative of said 
copartnership, or agent thereof, whose evidence it is desired to take, together 
with such books, papers, and documents, at the place named In the applica- 
tion of the Attorney General or district attorney, and that the time fixed In 
said application then and there to testify; provided, however, that such 
application shall always allow In fixing said time three days' travel to reach 
the place so designated for the taking of said testimony; provided, further, 
that in addition to the said three days ten days shall be allowed for the 
attorney or attorneys of record, or the agent, officer, or employee upen whom 
notice is served, to notify the person or persons whose testimony Is to be 
taken. Service of said notice as returned in writing may be made by any 
officer authorized to serve a subpoena. 



254 THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 



Sec. 8. That whenever the persons mentioned in the preceding sections 
shall be notified, as above provided, to request any officer, agent, director, or 
employee to attend before any court, or before any person authorized to 
take the testimony in said proceedings, and the person or persons whose 
testimony is requested, as above provided, shall fail to appear and testify 
and produce any books, papers, and documents, they may be ordered to pro- 
duce by the court or other officer authorized to take such evidence, then 
it shall be the duty of the court, upon motion of the Attorney General or 
district attorney, to strike out the answer, motion, reply, demurrer, or other 
pleading then or thereafter filed in said action or proceeding by the said 
individual, corporation, joint stock association, or copartnership whose 
officer, agent, director, or employee has neglected or failed to attend and 
testify and produce all books, papers, and documents he or they shall have 
been ordered to produce in said action by the court or person authorized to 
take said testimony, and said court shall proceed to render judgment by 
default against said corporation, joint stock association, or copartnership; 
provided, further, that In case any officer, agent, employee, director, or rep- 
resentative of any individual, corporation, joint stock *associati on, or copart- 
nership in such proceeding as hereinbefore mentioned, who shall reside or 
be found within the United States oi America, or within the district of the 
State where such proceedings are had, shall be subpoenaed to appear and 
testify or to produce books, papers, and documents, and shall fail, neglect, 
or refuse to do so, then the answer, motion, demurrer, or other pleading then 
and thereafter filed by said Individual, corporation, joint stock association, 
or copartnership In any such proceeding, shall, on motion of the Attorney 
General or district attorney, be stricken out and judgment in said cause 
rendered against said Individual, corporation, joint stock association, or 
copartnership; provided, further, that upon proper showing to the court 
within sixty days that such failure or neglect was due to sickness or un- 
avoidable accident or unintentional delay, such default judgment may be set 
aside, but the court shall not act until such evidence is duly given. 

Sec. 9. That It shall be the duty of the Attorney General of the United 
States and the district attorneys of each district in the State in which said 
offense may be committed, respectively, to enforce the provisions of this act. 
The Attorney General or the district attorney, or both, with the assistants, 
shall institute and conduct all suits for the enforcement of this act in the 
district courts of the State In which said offense may be committed, and upon 
appeal the Attorney General of the United States or his assistants shall 
prosecute said suit In the Supreme Court of the United States or any courts 
of appeal. And all actions authorized and brought under this act shall have 
precedence, on motion either of the Attorney General or the district attorney, 
of all business, civil or criminal, except in criminal cases where the defend- 
ants are in jail. 

Sec. 10. That all acts and parts of acts In conflict with this act be, and 
the same are hereby, repealed, and this act shall be in force and take effect 
from and after the date of passage. 

B. 

CAUSES LEADING TO THE OBGANIZATION OF TRUSTS. 

The Industrial Commission of 1900 and 1901 in summing up the causes 
leading to the organization of trusts say that most of the witnesses were of 
opinion that competition, so vigorous as to destroy nearly all the profits, was 
the chief cause. Mr. Havemeyer agreed with this, but said that this competi- 
tion had been brought about by the fact that the too high prote«tIve tariff 
had tempted many rivals into the filed, and named the customs tariff as the 
chief cause. Some of the witnesses stated that their organizations were 
formed to make economies, to lessen competition, arid to get higher profits. 
Chairman Gates said that the American Steel and Wire Company was formed 
because its organizers "wished to be the wire manufacturers of the world." 



THE LIFE OF SENATOR JEFF DAVIS 255 



FOBM OF THE OBQANIZATION. 

The form of organization that has given them their name, "trusts," was 
the one started by the Standard Oil Trust in 1882, afterward followed by the 
Whiskey Combination, the Distillers and Cattle Feeders' Trust, and the Sugar 
Trust. The stockholders simply assigned their stock in trust to a board of 
trustees without the power of revocation. That board of trustees then held 
the voting power of the stocks of the different companies and was thus 
enabled, through the election of directors, to control them absolutely. These 
trusts, owing to hostile legislation, apparently went out of existence, although 
this is a matter of much doubt. 

The form of organization that seems most common at the present time is 
a single large corporation which owns outright the different plants. A com- 
bination of this kind is formed by a purchase of all the plants of the differ- 
ent corporations, the corporations then dissolving as separate corporations. 
Payments for the plants are largely made in stock of the new corporation, 
and the affairs are managed by the stockholders of the one corporation 
through their board of directors. Most of these companies organize under 
New Jersey law. 

Another form of organization, which is in many particulars quite like 
the original trust form of the old Standard Oil Trust, is that which has been 
taken by the Federal Steel Company, the Distilling Company of America, 
and others. In this form the central company, instead of purchasing the 
plants of the different corporations which it is proposed to unite, simply 
buys a majority of the stock or possibly the entire stock of each one of the 
corporations. The separate corporations keep in separate corporate existence, 
but a majority of the stock being held by the one larger corporation, It8 
officers of course elect the boards of directors of all the separate corporations, 
and In this way hold complete control. 

The total capitalization of the new industrial combinations reach an enor- 
mous sum, well into the billions, and far exceeds the cash value of their 
property. 



NOV 20 I9J3 



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